Old Assyrian Empire to place the settlement along the southern bend of the Kızılırmak River. Alişar Hüyük, which has also been suggested as a location, is an archeological site near the present-day village of Alişar. Alişar Hüyük was occupied from the Copper Age (c. 5000 BC — c. 3300 BC) then well into the Bronze Age (c. 3300 BC – c. 1200 BC.) A number of Hittite-era cuneiform tablets written in the Old Assyrian cuneiform script of the Cappadocia-type have been found here. Mention in those tablets of “Ankuwa” has caused speculation that the archaeological site is the Ankuwa mentioned in other Hittite
Cappadocia rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to years ago, during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs, underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits. Göreme became a monastic centre in 300–1200 AD. The first period of settlement in Göreme goes back to the Roman period. The Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in