Türkmen-Karahöyük is one of the largest settlements in pre-Roman Anatolia and has a continuous occupation spanning the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Hellenistic period. The site was a major centre already in the early 2nd millennium BCE and an important administrative centre under the Hittite Empire; current research suggests it may even have been the location of the second Hittite capital, Tarhuntassa. An Anatolian Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription found at the site and commissioned by a Great King Hartapu confidently makes it the capital of a regional kingdom in the 8th century BCE. Türkmen-Karahöyük seems to have reached its maximum extension under the Persian and Seleucid Empires, when a large lower town existed around the mound; its last occupation is marked by violent fire destruction caused by enemy attack around 100 BCE.
Excavations started in 2024 under the co-direction of Michele Massa (Bilkent University) and James Osborne (Chicago University).
For more information:
https://x.com/trthaber/status/1827010155092865070?t=lKk7sAnTvqgh7lFWlsic_w&s=19
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/550-2405/features/12283-Türkiye-hittite-capital-tarhuntasha