Alacahöyük is located 45 kilometers south of
Çorum and 17 kilometers northwest of the
Alaca Township.
The National Park area can be reached via the
Sungurlu-
Çorum road and the area is 26 kilometers away from
Sungurlu, 29 kilometers from
Yozgat and 208 kilometers from
Ankara. This tumulus was first introduced to the world of science by
W.C. Hamilton in 1835, in 1861
G. Perrot came to the tumulus and discovered the plan of the square tower on the left and right of the door and one of the orthostats, ans in 1893
E. Chantre came to the tumulus and found the square corridors among the sphinx, the second door at the end and the door frames.The first systematic excavations of the tumulus were started by
Atatürk in the
Republican Era and lasted until 1983.
The Alacahöyük Museum was launched in 1982 in its new building at the entrance of the
Alacahöyük ruins.The excavations which were interrupted at that time started again in 1997 by the experts of the
Ankara University.The studies and excavations have shown that there were four layers of cultures that existed in the tumulus which was inhabited continuously since the
Chalcolithic Age. These layers covering the
Calcolithic,
Old Bronze,
Hittite and
Phrygian ages are divided in 15 different architectural layers among themselves.
The Hittite layers that form the visible part of
Alacahöyük are formed by three layers. In this age, a defence system was formed in the form of a circle with a diameter of 250 meters and on this circle are found two main gates that were the entrances to the city. One of these entrances was the eastern door with a spinhx and the other was the one on the western side of the tumulus. There are also examples of the ethnography of
Alacahöyük in the
museum.
