The story of Büklükale

On this mound beside the Kızılırmak, an east wall of rubble stone still stands up to 7 metres high. Büklükale sits on the west bank at the river's narrowest point, a crossing used throughout history; south of the mound lie the Seljuk-era Çeşnigir Bridge and the remains of a Roman bridge, and when the water is low, holes in the rocky ground hint at an even older one.

The site covers about 30 hectares and lies some 50 km west of Kaman-Kalehöyük. Settled from the Middle Bronze Age, it later became part of the Hittite Empire and may have belonged to the Assyrian trade network.

On the acropolis, excavators uncovered a monumental building of 50 × 30 metres, first built around 1980 BC and abandoned in 1870 BC. Rebuilt about a century later, it was finally destroyed by fire in the first half of the 16th century BC, in Hittite times.