Awari

Hittites use special building techniques to erect Awari outposts, adapting to favorable terrain to give them the strategic upper hand.

Settled on the Anatolian high plateau, the Hittite peoples formed a network of small towns and fortified outposts called awari. They took advantage of the region’s mountainous topography to develop a particularly effective style of defensive architecture. The majority of Hittite urban structures were fortified, regardless of their size. Built high on a plateau or hill, they followed a precise plan and layout. Towns were surrounded by a line of fortifications made of two parallel walls filled with rubble and fieldstone. The base and foundations of these walls were built with large blocks of stone, which supported a structure of wood beams and mud bricks. The sites at greatest risk of external attacks had passageways under the ramparts to quickly fight off the besieging forces.