3,000-year-old wooden stairs found in Hittite city

A well-preserved 3,000-year-old wooden staircase has been discovered at the Oymaak hilltop, identified as the Hittite holy city of Nerik in Turkey’s central Black Sea region. Archaeologists found wooden remains and some hazelnut shells at the end of a long tunnel, near what the Hittites called “holy water.”

The excavation team noted that 3,000-year-old hazelnut shells were found in the holy water from the tunnel, and said: “We believe that the temple there was used for many years. We saw at the Oymaak mound that it was used during the ancient Hittite period, from the 16th to the 12th century BC. We found a tunnel above the temple, and as we dug the tunnel, we moved towards the water. At a depth of about 8 meters, we reached the area that the Hittites called ‘holy water’.”

“We thought Nerik was 3,500 years old. But when we found wooden remains in the pool, we were shocked because there is no wet material in Anatolia. When we dug a little more in that area, we also found hazelnut shells. The 3,000-year-old hazelnut shells confirm that the Black Sea region was a production center for hazelnuts. Carbon dating tests on the wooden remains and hazelnut shells showed that they are about 3,000 years old.”

The city was built by the Hattians, an early Bronze Age people who inhabited central Anatolia before the Hittites. They dedicated the city to their storm god, Tsup. After the Hattian territories were absorbed by the expanding Hittite Empire, Nerik remained a sacred city, where the Hittites preserved the ancient worship of Tsup. Numerous clay tablets testify to the rituals held in the city, recording that the Hittite king Hattusili III traveled to Nerik several times a year from the Hittite capital of Hattusa to pay homage to the storm god.

Objects from the Nirik site—cuneiform tablets, seals, containers, funerary objects—are currently on display at the Samsun Museum.