höyüksoften

Höyüksoften is a digital platform developed to support the management, documentation, and analysis of archaeological sites that are built on ancient mounds, known in Turkish as höyüks. The tool was conceived by a team of archaeologists and software engineers in Ankara in 2018 and was first released in beta form in 2019 to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The project is open source and hosted on GitHub under a permissive license, allowing researchers worldwide to contribute and adapt the code to local needs.

The software blends geographic information system (GIS) capabilities with a relational database backend that stores layers such as stratigraphic profiles, artifact inventories, and site imagery. A web‑based front end offers interactive maps, 3D visualizations of mound topography, and automated reporting tools that generate field notebooks in PDF. Höyüksoften also includes modules for radiocarbon dating results, soil sampling metadata, and visitor management to aid in preservation efforts.

Since its launch, Höyüksoften has been adopted by several universities and heritage agencies in Turkey and neighboring countries. Pilot projects in the Diyarbakır and Izmir provinces have reported significant increases in data accuracy and a reduction in the time required to prepare site reports. The software’s modular architecture allows integration with drones, LiDAR surveys, and remote sensing data, positioning it as a flexible solution for modern archaeological workflows. As of 2026, the platform continues to receive periodic updates, and an active community of contributors maintains its documentation and issue tracker.