Struggle against weed continues in Alacahöyük

The 2021 season excavations at the Alacahöyük ancient site, where the first archaeological excavations of the Turkish Republic were carried out, will be resumed after the completion of the weed control that has been continuing since July 3.

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The first excavations in Alacahöyük Village, located in the Central Anatolian province of Çorum, started in 1935 with the instructions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, who contributed from his personal budget.

So far, local and foreign researchers from different disciplines have worked in excavations over time, unearthing significant traces of the Hittite civilization as well as the ancient Anatolian cultural history.

After the death of the former head of the excavations, Professor Aykut Çınaroğlu, the archaeological excavations were interrupted in the ancient settlement in previous years. Later in 2020, the works were carried out under the chairmanship of Ankara University's Near East Archaeology Lecturer Professor Tayfun Yıldırım.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Yıldırım said that the archaeological excavation season in Alacahöyük started on July 3 but that they could not start the excavations because of the weed cleaning works.

Yıldırım stated that before the archaeological excavations started in all the ruins in Anatolia, it is necessary to clean the weeds, adding. "Since this is an open area, we have to fight weed every year. When we first came here last year, we found that the entire mound was covered with weed. We started weed control studies according to the program proposed by agricultural engineers. Then, there were some places that needed to be repaired and rearranged due to natural conditions, along with ruins that were destroyed by the...