= Becker J. − Schachner A., Neue Ausgrabungen auf Büyükkale in Boğazköy-Ḫattuša 2021, in: MDOG 154 173-220. [Abstract: "Chance finds during securing measures (2014–2015) and work on the north-western foot (2018–2019) surprisingly yielded evidence of previously unknown building layers on the Büyükkale Plateau at Bogazköy-Hattuša, which was investigated in stages between 1906 and 1966. Based on this, systematic excavations were carried out in the upper castle courtyard in the summer/autumn of 2021. They confirm that larger areas to both the northwest and south of the castle rock as well as the royal castle lying on it must be considered largely unexplored. For the area of the upper castle courtyard, both layers of the Hittite Great Kingdom Period (Büyükkale III) as well as and overlying ones of the Late Iron Age (Büyükkale I) were unearthed to the north of the Hittite audience hall (Building D) and to the east of Building E. The excavations also revealed the presence of a large number of other layers from the Late Iron Age. Thus, for the Late Iron Age (Büyükkale I), the west wing of a palatial building was uncovered as part of a dense sequence of buildings, which, together with the old excavations, has no equal in contemporary Central Anatolia. Underneath, foundations were recorded for the Hittite Great Kingdom period (Büyükkale III), which probably formed part of a presumed passage to the north-west terrace with buildings E and F. In particular, the current work has made it clear that intervening, supposed “rubble heaps” primarily represent the original, former mound surface, as they already existed in the times of Th. Makridi and H. Winckler, but had not been investigated in detail until now. This opens up new perspectives, especially since the chronological and structural development of other urban areas of Boğazköy-Ḫattuša has changed fundamentally in the last two decades, but the royal castle has so far been excluded from these considerations. For both the Late Iron Age and the Hittite period, new substantial features and finds can be expected at Büyükkale, which, if the work continues, will make it possible to better integrate the royal castle into the current cultural-historical and socio-economic developments of the city’s history as well as the evolution of Central Anatolia. Against this background, absolute chronological dating using radiocarbon data is of great importance, especially since the work in 2021 was able to demonstrate the as yet unexploited potential of the findings in this respect, so that the archaeologically obtained dates can in future be confirmed and made more precise by means of absolute chronological natural science".] Neue Abfrage | New Search
