The Hittite city of Ortaköy was discovered within the scope of surface survey project work conducted under the directorship of Prof. Dr. Aygül Süel and Dr. Mustafa Süel, with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Excavation work at this ruin site began as a rescue excavation in 1990 under the scholarly directorship of Prof. Dr. Aygül Süel. From 1992 to 2018, the excavations were carried out by a scholarly team on behalf of Ankara University, directed by Prof. Dr. Aygül Süel and Dr. Mustafa Süel, with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Since 2019, the excavations have been conducted by a scholarly team on behalf of Hitit University, under the directorship of Prof. Dr. Aygül Süel, with the authorization of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Hittite city of Ortaköy is located 53 km southeast of the Çorum Provincial center and 3 km southwest of the Ortaköy District center.
We have determined that the name of this city in its time was Šapinuwa, and it served as another capital of the Hittite State. The Ortaköy Archive is the second largest cuneiform archive discovered belonging to the Hittite era in Anatolia, following Boğazköy (Hattusa). The archive consists of over four thousand tablets and tablet fragments, written in various languages including Hittite, Hurrian, Hattic, and Akkadian. The tablets, which contain various subjects such as administrative, religious, and divinatory matters, belong to a royal archive.
In the early 14th century B.C., Great King Tuthaliya II and Queen Taduhepa ruled in Šapinuwa. Historical documents also indicate that the city of Šapinuwa was utilized by Great King Muršili II in the 13th century B.C. This suggests that this Hittite city, which spanned a considerably large geographical area with the towns situated in its administrative region, was inhabited for an extended period, not just during the Middle Hittite period.
The Hittite city of Ortaköy is situated on a plateau that descends from the northwest toward the southeast. When the Hittites arrived in this region, they did not settle in the existing villages; instead, they established this great city by terracing and leveling the terrain. Administrative structures are predominantly observed on the upper terraces. On the hills surrounding the city to the west, we encounter widespread architectural traces that likely belong to religious and military structures.
The east-west trade route along the Kelkit-Yeşilırmak valley passes in front of this city before reaching Central Anatolia. Located at a strategically vital point on this busy route, which facilitated trade and enriched the economy, the Hittite city of Šapinuwa thus acquired its significant commercial importance.
