Alaca Höyük bronze standards
The Alaca Höyük bronze standards are a series of bronze objects found among the grave goods in the princely tombs of Alaca Höyük. They are generally understood as cult instruments, probably to be attached to carts. Discovery From 1935–39, the Turkish archaeologists, Hamit Zübeyir Koşay and investigated the site of Alaca Höyük, near Alaca, Çorum Province. In the process they uncovered 14 tombs of the early Bronze Age, which were named the "Princely tombs" or "Kingly tombs". Numerous grave offerings were found next to the burials - individually or in pairs - including more than twenty bronze standards. Description The archaeologist Winfried Orthmann divides the standards into two main groups, one group consists of individual animals and the other of discs or rings (with or without images of animals). He subdivides these two groups based on the shape and contents of the discs or rings, and based on the type of creatures depicted. The individual animals are all deer or bulls. The feet stand on four supports which converge at a point where it probably attached to a perishable wooden pole. The deer have expansive antlers, the cows have long curved horns. The highly stylised bodies are partially decorated with