Boyalı Mound and Fatmaören Mound
The area around the town of Yörüklü, in Sungurlu district, is home to two further mounds close to Hüseyindede Mound, the important Hittite-era cult centre: Boyalı Mound and Fatmaören Mound. Together, the three sites form a settlement network that is considered the core area of Hatti culture in the third millennium BC.
Boyalı Mound
Boyalı Mound lies about 2 kilometres east of the centre of Yörüklü, 450 metres east of the former village of Güloluk (now a neighbourhood of Yörüklü). It was identified in 1997 by Prof. Dr. Tayfun Yıldırım and Assoc. Prof. Dr. İbrahim Tunç Sipahi of Ankara University’s Faculty of Language, History and Geography, who collected surface pottery from the third millennium BC and the Old Hittite and Phrygian periods. Because Hüseyindede had turned out to be a cult building with no other architectural remains around it, researchers began looking for a nearby settlement; when surface surveys at Boyalı Mound in 2004 turned up Old Hittite pottery, excavation was decided upon. Digs continued from 2004 to 2007 under Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tunç Sipahi on behalf of the Çorum Museum; the mound proved limited in metal finds.
Fatmaören Mound
Fatmaören Mound lies 500 metres west-northwest of the same town centre, about 2.5 kilometres as the crow flies from Hüseyindede. Built across three natural rises, the mound reaches 25 metres above field level at its highest point, giving it an oasis-like appearance amid the surrounding arid land. It was identified in 1999 during the third season of excavations at Hüseyindede, when the same team carried out surface surveys in the area. Excavation began in 2003 under Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tunç Sipahi on behalf of the Çorum Museum, with financial support from the Turkish Historical Society. Most of the finds date to the Old Hittite period; farming activity and erosion are thought to have destroyed much of the architectural evidence.
A Connected Landscape
Hüseyindede, Boyalı and Fatmaören, standing close together, form a trio that together illuminates Sungurlu’s pre-Hittite and Hittite settlement history. For the district’s general history, see History of Sungurlu.