Kayalıpınar, Yıldızeli



Kayalıpınar is a village in Yıldızeli District, in Sivas Province, Turkey. Its population is 66 (2022). It is a Hittite archaeological site, under excavation since 2004. It is identified with the ancient Samuha settlement.

Settlement history
The human settlement of Kayalıpınar started already in the 5th millennium BC. During the Middle Bronze Age the settlement grew to become a town. During the early kārum period, Kayalıpınar/Šamuḫa became a station (wabartum) of ancient Assyrian traders that eventually developed into a trading colony (kārum). The town controlled a bridge crossing Kızılırmak River. A palace is also mentioned in the texts.

The presence of ancient Assyrian traders is attested by several seals found in Kayalıpınar and two ancient Assyrian cuneiform tablets, one of which mentions the Anatolian personal name Tamura.



After the kārum period city was destroyed, the Hittites built a new city with a palace complex. This city was destroyed in the Middle Hittite period, probably by an earthquake.

A seal that may belong to the layer of destruction points to the time of King Tudḫaliya I and his wife Nikkalmati, which indicates the date of around 1450 BC. Apparently, the same earthquake destroyed the mountain town of Šarišša, which was about fifty kilometers to the south-east. The destroyed city and palace were immediately rebuilt.

At the time of Tudḫaliya II, the palace was systematically plundered and burned down. According to the Hittite documents, this may have been done by the "enemy of Azzi", that took the Upper Land and "made Šamuḫa the border". The mining town of Šarišša was also plundered at that time.

External sites

 * Current research at Kayalipinar (in German) University of Marburg - uni-marburg.de