Hattusha

Ḫattuša

Türkiye · Çorum

Ancient cityExcavation ongoingUNESCO · 1986
Approximate period3,000 BCE — 1,100 CEBronze Age; mainly the Hittite period, also Roman layers See on the map ↓

In brief

The city at Boğazkale was the capital of the Hittite Empire. Alongside monumental fortifications and temples, excavations have uncovered buildings and written records from different periods.

What was found?

  • 1Tablet containing a text in the Kalaşma language

    A clay tablet fragment found near Ambarlıkaya during the 2023 excavations contains an introduction in Hittite followed by a section in a previously unknown Anatolian language. Researchers associate this section with Kalaşma.

  • 2Lion Gate

    This is a monumental city gate decorated with lion depictions. It shows that defensive structures also carried powerful visual expression.

  • 3Royal residences

    The remains of royal buildings in the Hittite capital document the spaces occupied by the administration within the city. They help us understand the organization of the capital.

  • 4Temple remains

    The temples preserved in the city show the place of religious buildings in the capital's layout. Together with written ritual texts, they offer an opportunity to examine the Hittites' world of belief.

What does it point to?

The temples, royal buildings and fortification walls of Hattuşa indicate the strong presence of administration and religious life in the capital. According to researchers, the ritual section of the Kalaşma tablet shows that Hittite scribes also recorded religious expression in another Anatolian language.

What did it teach us?

  1. Documented the administrative, worship and defensive structures of the Hittite capital together.
  2. Provided direct written evidence of a previously unknown Anatolian language through the Kalaşma tablet.
  3. Expanded knowledge of linguistic diversity in the capital's ritual records.

Images

Lion Gate, Hattusa 01
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Latest news / selected archive

A tablet found during the 2023 excavations was identified as containing a ritual text in Kalaşma, a previously unknown Anatolian language.

Record

Culture
Hattian, Hittite and Roman
First modern dig
1906
Team / historical
Andreas Schachner / German Archaeological Institute
Coordinates
40.0139°, 34.6206°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. whc.unesco.org
  3. publications.dainst.org
  4. corum.ktb.gov.tr
  5. dainst.org
  6. dainst.org

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