Preparing for a Siege
The last time I visited Hattusas, capital of the Hittite empire, I came across a deep pit I had never noticed before. The stone-lined pit was about 8' deep and at a rough "guesstimate" I would say that it was 12' or 15' on each side. I walked all round the thing, but still couldn't work out what it was.
My first thought was that it was a pool for water, either as a cisten or for swimming. That didn't really fit, however; if it was a cistern, then why was it open to the air and built of stone when the whole area was a mass of rock into which a narrow-mouthed cistern could be dug - the rock to prevent loss through seepage, the narrow-mouth to prevent loss through evaporation. If, on the other hand, it was a pool for recreation where were the stairs going down into the pool?
In any case, there was no sign of plaster on the stones which made up the walls, which seemed to rule out water.
I finally concluded that it must be a courtyard of some sort, though the lack of doorways rather disproved that idea, unless they had been made of wood.
I don't know what the archaeologists made of it either, for it didn't appear on any plan, either on site or in the guidebook, and it is possible they were as puzzled as I was. A lucky find in 2005 gave them the answer. This was another rectangular structure, but this time it was built above ground rather than dug down into the ground. It measured a massive 383'6" x 130' and surrounded by walls 5' thick, packed with clay to make them air tight. When the archaeologists cleared the earth away from over the structure they found that it was divided into two rows of 16 compartments - and twelve of those compartments were filled with charred grain.
Ancient silos were commonly built underground, which you might think would be an open invitation to ants and mice to tunnel down to the store of grain. However provided you sealed the mouth of the storage pit with clay to make an air-tight seal, the grain itself rapidly used up the oxygen in the pit and gave off carbon dioxide. Not only did this stop any further development in the grain - it couldn't sprout - but it killed any animals or insects that ventured into the pit. The result was that the grain kept in near pristine condition for years. Modern silos use the same principle, except that the poisonous gas is deliberately introduced. 30 It would seem, then, that these rectangular pits were grain silos and if all the ones discovered so far were full, it would mean that Hattusas had a grain reserve of 7,800 tons - 5,400 tons in this one massive silo alone. This would be used both to supply people in times of famine, but more importantly, as a supply should the city be besieged.
In addition the archaeologists have discovered huge reservoirs for water. Five of these are in the southern part of the city, which is in fact the highest part of the city. The pools were long and narrow, but up to 26' deep, probably in order to minimise evaporation. These were probably filled by collecting rainwater from the surrounding roofs and streets, as they rapidly filled with silt.
Curiously, one of these ponds contained over a ton of pottery, most of which was a distinctive type of thin, spindle-shaped bottle believed to have a ritual use. It would seem that back in the 15th century BC the local people were in the habit of pouring out drink-offerings and then tossing the container into this particular pool, which may have been associated with one of the nearby temples.
Whether ritual or not, the ponds would also have served as a water supply for the city in time of drought or siege. In other parts of the city there were more pools and even dams, so clearly the water supply was a cause of concern to the kings of Hattusas, for although there was a river at the base of the hill on which the city stood, it was virtually dry in summer and in any case stood outside the city walls.
The excavators claim that both the grain storage and the water reservoirs were displays of wealth and power, but I class this along with the tendency in archaeologists to see anything new as "ritual" or "ceremonial". How can something be a "display" when it is buried underground and concealed with an impermeable layer of clay? How is a visitor to be impressed by a long, narrow pond which, for all he can see, is only a few inches deep? Certainly these things were a manifestation of power and wealth, but they were not display, they served a very practical purpose.
Ancient cities commonly suffered sieges - that, after all, is why they had walls! While small cities might hope to be relieved by the central government, the capital city itself had no such hope. The only hope was to keep the enemy out until disease or discouragement caused him to raise the siege and go away - but that meant that you had to have enough food and water inside the city to enable you to last that long. Both Jerusalem and Samaria endured sieges of three years duration, which points to considerable reserves of food and water. The archaeologists estimate that with rationing, Hattusas held enough grain to feed 30,000 people for two years and that may be increased if further granaries are found.
Of course, keeping the enemy out required strong walls and the archaeologists at Hattusas are investigating that as well by reconstructing a 210' long stretch of wall. On the hill top around the Lion and Kings Gates the wall was built of large boulders cut to join together like a jigsaw. The lower city, however, was protected by a less impressive wall made of mud brick on a stone foundation and the purpose of reconstructing this wall was partly to give the tourists something at which to look, partly to get an idea of the difficulty - and therefore the resources required - in building such a wall, and mainly to understand the sort of maintenance such a wall would need.
It is believed that the Hittites were not able to split stone - though, as noted above, they were able to cut stone with considerable precision. The first step, therefore, was to employ a gang of local workmen to square blocks of stone by pounding them with other stones. I suspect this merely confirmed for the locals the conviction that all foreigners are mad.
The second step was to set up a "factory" to make mud bricks in the Hittite style, which was approximately 18" square but only 4.25" thick. Made of mud mixed with straw, the first two years saw 40,000 bricks produced using 67 tons of straw. As each brick weighed 76lbs 8oz, the amount of mud required can be readily calculated! Once the mud had been turned out of the mold and laid on the ground the brick took about ten days to dry in the heat of the Turkish summer and was then strong enough that a tractor could be driven over them without damaging them.
The wall itself is based on a clay model believed to represent Hittite fortifications and has semi-circular crenellations and regular towers. It has been finished with a clay plaster and looks most impressive. The visitor can imagine what the city must have looked like with a complete ring of such walls around it; the archaeologists can stand in awe of the amount of labour involved in producing such a fortification.
filled with charred grain The grain has been identified by the expedition botanist as barley, though at least one chamber in the complex contained einkorn wheat. The archaeologists dug through nearly 6' of charred grain before they reached the floor of the silo.
The question which does not appear to have been addressed by the archaeologists is how the grain came to be burned. As I understand it, there is no evidence that the covering soil was removed and the grain fired, nor were any of the burned chambers only half full. It would be just too fortuitous if the surrounding chambers were emptied in time of siege but the city fell before another chamber was broached and then the enemy went to the trouble of uncovering and burning the untouched grain.
A possible cause of the burning could be spontaneous combustion. If the chambers were not sealed properly and if the grain had been damp when stored, then it could ferment and generate heat and provided there was oxygen present this would lead to burning of the grain with little smoke, so that the fire remained undetected for some time. The surrounding empty chambers would then represent an attempt to rescue the remaining grain. As the causes of spontaneous combustion would not be understood, it could even be that such a fire might lead to the abandonment of large, above-ground storage in favour of the tried and tested below-ground method. Return
© Kendall K. Down 2009
