Archaeologists excavating the ancient Hittite city of Šapinuwa in today’s central Turkey have found unusual animal and cattle remains inside a monumental building dating back about 3,400 years. The finds may offer rare physical evidence of rituals linked to the construction or alteration of buildings.
The discoveries came from two matching L-shaped rooms. In 2025, archaeologists found the headless skeleton of a young animal, probably a lamb or goat, lying on a stone-paved surface. During the 2026 season, they uncovered a cattle skull on another stone pavement in the corresponding room.
Excavation director Önder İpek of Hitit University said their deliberate placement suggests the remains may have been part of sacrificial practices rather than ordinary food waste. Researchers have also identified several phases of construction and use in the building, raising the possibility that the deposits belonged to different stages in its history.
The interpretation remains preliminary. Zooarchaeological analysis is expected to help identify the headless animal and determine how it was treated. Researchers will also study whether the two deposits were connected to the same type of ritual.
Excavations reveal the building’s plan
The monumental structure was first detected through geophysical surveys in 2024. Archaeologists opened a 5-by-5-meter trench and exposed about 20% of it during the first excavation season. Work in 2025 and 2026 traced its exterior walls and revealed most of its plan. Excavation has now moved into the interior.
Evidence places the building’s construction in the 1380s B.C., when the Hittite Empire was one of the major powers of Bronze Age Anatolia. Its exact purpose remains unknown. Archaeologists have not determined whether it served as a temple, administrative building or another type of public structure.
A 3,400-year-old mystery is emerging at the Hittite city of Šapinuwa in Türkiye.
Archaeologists found a headless young animal and a cattle skull carefully placed inside matching rooms of a monumental building. Could they be evidence of ancient sacrificial rituals? pic.twitter.com/sDAGcgCBoT
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) August 24, 2026
Hittite written sources provide important context for the animal remains. Sacrifice formed part of religious life, with sheep, cattle, goats and other animals offered during festivals, purification ceremonies and other rituals.
Hittite scribes also preserved ritual texts in several languages, reflecting the varied religious traditions of Late Bronze Age Anatolia. Texts describe offerings associated with buildings, including foundation ceremonies intended to protect a structure from harmful forces.
Ancient texts offer clues to the finds
That evidence does not prove the newly discovered remains served the same purpose. Their position and archaeological context, however, give researchers a specific ritual explanation to investigate. Earlier excavations at Šapinuwa also uncovered sacrificial pits containing burned and unburned animal bones, providing a useful comparison.
Šapinuwa lies near modern Ortaköy in Çorum Province. Excavations began there in 1990. Archaeologists have since recovered more than 4,000 cuneiform tablets and fragments, forming the second-largest known Hittite archive in Anatolia after Boğazköy-Hattusa, where almost 30,000 clay tablets have been recovered.
The texts, written in Hittite, Hurrian, Hattic and Akkadian, cover religion, administration and other state affairs. They helped identify the ancient settlement as Šapinuwa and showed its close connection to the Hittite royal court.
Other discoveries from the Hittite world, including cuneiform tablets and seal impressions from Alalakh, have similarly provided evidence of the kingdom’s political and administrative system. Excavators have also associated Šapinuwa with King Tudhaliya II.
Researchers seek the building’s purpose
Researchers from several fields are now studying the building and its contents. If the animal deposits prove to be sacrifices connected with different construction phases, the rooms could provide rare archaeological evidence for rituals known mainly from Hittite texts.
At a city famous for preserving the written record of the Hittite world, the building may now offer evidence of how some of those rituals were carried out more than 3,400 years ago.
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