Alacahöyük Ören Yeri ve Müzesi

Fifteen kilometres north-west of Alaca and fifty from Çorum, a mound with fifteen building levels from the Chalcolithic to the Ottomans. The gold diadems, bronze figurines and sun-disc, stag and bull standards from its Early Bronze Age royal tombs are in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations; the tombs are restored and open. At the Sphinx Gate, the Hittite town's southern entrance, sphinxes carved into four-metre monolithic jambs are still in place; the orthostats beside them are copies. Makridi Bey dug first in 1907; from 1935, at Atatürk's wish, the Turkish Historical Society continued under Remzi Oğuz Arık and Hamit Zübeyr Koşay. The Hittite dam at nearby Gölpınar, built by Tudhaliya IV around 1240 BC, has been repaired and holds water. The museum dates from 1940; open every day.