45 km from Çorum. southwest of Ankara, 160 km. is in the east. Four civilization ages have been unearthed in Alacahöyük, which was a very important cult (religious ceremony) and art center during the Old Bronze Age and Hittite ages. It is the first excavation of the Republic period.
The Hittites, one of the great powers of the Ancient East like Egypt, Babylonia and Mitanni, dates back to approximately B.C. They ruled over most of Anatolia and, from time to time, Northern Syria until 1200. Hattusa, the capital of this Empire, is in Boğazkale district, 80 kilometers southwest of Çorum. The region was given the status of Historical National Parks in 1988. Hattusa was discovered by French architect Charles Texier in 1834. This can be perceived not only as the discovery of Hattusa, but also as the discovery of the completely forgotten Hittites. Many scientists and travelers visited Hattusa in the period until Ernest Chantre made several soundings and published the first cuneiform tablets in 1893-94. The conservator of the same museum, Theodor Makridi Bey, who received the support of Osman Hamdi Bey, the Director of the Imperial Museum, started the first large-scale excavation in 1906, and by including the cuneiform expert of the time, Assyriologist Hugo Winckler, in the excavation team, they determined that this was the Hittite capital Hattusa.
The largest and most impressive sacred place of Hattusa is Yazılıkaya Open Air Temple, located outside the city and hidden among high rocks. More than 90 gods, goddesses, animals and imaginary creatures are engraved on the rock surface of the temple. The series of gods and goddesses formed the retinue of the storm god and the sun goddess, the chief deities of the Imperial pantheon. As a result of this comment; Yazılıkaya can be described as the "house of New Year's festivities". According to the Hittite cult (religious ceremony) texts, all the gods who came together during the new year and spring ceremonies would gather in the "house of the storm god". It is considered that during this festival, the god statues from all the other temples of the city may have been moved to Yazılıkaya in a ceremonial procession.
Şapinuva, (Ortaköy), one of the important cities of the Hittite State, is 53 km from Çorum. is in the southeast. It is on the passage between the Göynücek Plain and the Alaca Plain, located around the Çekerek river. During the Hittite Age, the city, located at a strategic point due to its political and geographical location, was an important military and religious center. In the archive consisting of cuneiform tablets and fragments (pieces), which were unearthed during the Ortaköy excavations and reached 4,000 in number, there are administrative, military, religious and fortune-telling texts written in Hattice, Hurrian and Akkadian, as well as those written in Hittite, and most of them date back to the Middle Hittite period ( It belongs to the 14th century BC). From the correspondence here, it is understood that the Taşmişarri (Tuthaliya III) – Taduhepa royal family ruled in this city. During the ongoing excavations, a monumental administrative building called Building A and a commercial building called Building B have been unearthed.
