Horoztepe Höyük Tokat Burial Mound
Horoztepe Mound · Erbaa Horoztepe
Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze (3500–2200 BCE)·Late Chalcolithic North Central Anatolian → EBA extramural elite cemetery·🇹🇷 Tokat Province, Erbaa District, Central Black Sea, Kelkit Valley, Turkey
About
About Horoztepe Höyük Tokat Burial Mound
Horoztepe Höyük Tokat Burial Mound is the extramural-cemetery knoll 200 m from Horoztepe settlement on the Kelkit plain 2 km northeast of Erbaa. Özgüç excavations expose an extramural EBA cemetery with stone-cist graves yielding tin-bronze hoards (shaft-hole axes, sistrum), copper bull figurines and Early Transcaucasian-related pottery — one of northern Anatolia's richest Early Bronze metal assemblages, linking the Kelkit to Alacahöyük–Horoztepe metallurgy without a large tell settlement.
Why it mattersEBA extramural elite cemetery — tin-bronze hoards linking Kelkit to Alacahöyük metallurgy
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Horoztepe elite vs. commoner — settlement or cemetery only?
- 02Tin source — Afghan or Anatolian at Horoztepe?
Theories
- 01Özgüç Horoztepe metallurgy — early tin-bronze via Kelkit corridor
- 02Extramural cemetery model vs. tell aggregation at Horoztepe
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE Chalcolithic hamlet; EB cemetery 2600 BCE
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze (3500–2200 BCE)
- Culture
- Late Chalcolithic North Central Anatolian → EBA extramural elite cemetery
- Builders
- Chalcolithic village elite, EBA chieftains
- Purpose
- Burial mound (tumulus) adjacent to Horoztepe extramural cemetery — EBA elite extramural cemetery with metal hoards 2km NE Erbaa, Kelkit plain
- Abandoned
- c.2200 BCE EB cemetery decline
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1957 Özgüç (Ankara); salvage 2000s Erbaa Museum
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1957
Özgüç opens Horoztepe extramural cemetery, tin-bronze hoards found
1964
Horoztepe bull figurines and shaft-hole axes published
2010
Kelkit valley Horoztepe re-evaluation with metal provenance study
On the ground
Structures & features
40.6700° N · 36.5700° E · 285 m · 3 mapped features
Stone-Cist Elite Graves (EB Cemetery)
necropolisStone-cist graves with tin-bronze hoards, 2600–2300 BCE extramural
40.6708° N · 36.5706° ECopper Bull Figurine Deposit
hoardCopper bull standards and sistrum hoard from extramural cemetery
40.6693° N · 36.5691° EKelkit Valley Settlement Scatter
settlementChalcolithic hamlet scatter 500m from cemetery 3500 BCE
40.6711° N · 36.5707° E