Geochemical and petrographic approach for the origin of the limestone blocks of thewalls of the Great Temple of Hattusha, Çorum (N-Turkey)

Authors

İSMAİL ÖMER YILMAZ
ANDREAS SCHACHNER
İBRAHİM TONGUÇ UYSAL
EZGİ ÜNAL İMER

DOI

10.55730/1300-0985.1774

Abstract

The socle stones of the Great Temple in the Lower City of the Hittite capital city, Hattusha (Çorum Province) have been studied for the first time by petrographic and geochemical analysis (Sr isotope, stable isotope, and trace element geochemistry). Study objectives were to determine the carbonate facies of the stone samples used in the Great Temple and investigate their possible sources. Petrographic analysis of 10 limestone samples presents five clusters of different microfacies. Stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) analysis displayed the presence of 5 groups in parallel with petrographic analysis. Trace element analysis of the same groups displayed considerable difference among the stone samples and 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios change between 0.70697 and 0.706867. Based on the results, it can be stated that the building using stones are from probably five different sources. This is of great importance to better understand the construction process and the acquisition of the building materials.

Keywords

Hattusha, Great Temple, building stone, sedimentary geochemistry, archaeometric study, N-Turkey

First Page

294

Last Page

304

Recommended Citation

YILMAZ, İSMAİL ÖMER; SCHACHNER, ANDREAS; UYSAL, İBRAHİM TONGUÇ; and İMER, EZGİ ÜNAL (2022) "Geochemical and petrographic approach for the origin of the limestone blocks of thewalls of the Great Temple of Hattusha, Çorum (N-Turkey)," Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences: Vol. 31: No. 3, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-0985.1774
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/vol31/iss3/10