A planned Hittite provincial centre in the Upper Land
At roughly 1,650 metres above sea level, Kuşaklı reveals the Hittite city of Šarišša through its walls, gates, temples, houses, water system and tablet archive—a planned provincial centre in the Upper Land.
Excavated building plan at Šarišša within its upland landscape.Captured: 2012Photo: Panegyrics of GranovetterWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗Cropped for web
Location
Kuşaklı Höyük, Altınyayla, Sivas
Chronology
16th–13th centuries BCE; Iron Age layers
Research / protection
Research programme since 1992
WGS84 reference
39.3083° N · 36.9097° E
Research identity
Excavation and scientific lead
The Kuşaklı research and publication programme is a long-term project of Marburg University's prehistoric archaeology unit, begun in 1992.
✓The institutional relationship is verified against official project and institution pages.
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Evidence at a glance
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Research began in 1992
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Systematic excavation began in 1993
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A planned defensive system with four gates
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Building A produced 45 cuneiform fragments
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Read the site layer by layer
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Planned city and defence
The walls, four principal gates and street axes point to a deliberately designed city. Set on a high plateau, this system shows how planning principles known at the capital were adapted at provincial scale.
Kuşaklı Höyük and the high-plateau setting of Šarišša.Captured: 2002Photo: Klaus-Peter SimonWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗Cropped for web
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Temples and cult
Excavated temples show that Šarišša was a religious centre as well as an administrative and strategic one. Read with ritual texts, the architecture highlights seasonal festivals and the role of the local sacred landscape.
The excavated plan of a Hittite temple at Kuşaklı.Captured: 2002Photo: Klaus-Peter SimonWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗Cropped for web
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Tablets and the city's name
Cuneiform fragments from Building A document ritual, oracle and administrative practice. They strengthen the identification of Kuşaklı with ancient Šarišša and define its place within the imperial network.
Display of finds from Kuşaklı/Šarišša in Sivas Archaeological Museum.Captured: 2019Photo: Ingeborg SimonWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗Cropped for web
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Water management and upland economy
Dams and water installations show how water was planned in a high-altitude environment with demanding seasons. Agriculture, herding and regional routes help reconstruct the productive landscape around the city.
Preserved stone masonry at Šarišša in evening light.Captured: 2012Photo: Panegyrics of GranovetterWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗Cropped for web
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Research history and publication
The Philipps-Universität Marburg project begun in 1992 publishes architecture, ceramics, tablets and environmental evidence in detail. Archives and publication are as important to the site's interpretation as individual field seasons.
Excavated building plan at Šarišša within its upland landscape.Captured: 2012Photo: Panegyrics of GranovetterWikimedia Commons ↗CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗Cropped for web
Through an Archaeologist's Eye
What should you notice in the field?
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What deserves attention on site?
Follow gates, street axes and water collection as parts of one plan.
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How should this layer be read?
Iron Age reuse above the Hittite plan records local continuity after the imperial town.
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What is the common misreading?
Treating Šarišša as only a military post excludes temples, tablets and water management.
These boxes do not claim personal discoveries. They are field-reading questions grounded in published archaeological context. Verifiable original observations by Ersin İğde are added separately and explicitly labelled.
Field mode
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Why does it matter?
Šarišša (Sarissa)
Šarišša allows the imperial model visible at Hattusa to be compared with the defence, cult, archive and water management of a highland provincial centre.
Weekly currency system
Šarišša dossier added
Kuşaklı's location, excavation chronology, tablet archive and publication series were checked against Marburg project records.
