Hittites in Syria

Abstract

SIR LEONARD WOOLLEY'S investigations at Atchana in the Amk Plain of Syria near Antioch have continued to extend the evidence of Hittite occupation. There is now a strong presumption that it may be assigned to so early a period as the first centuries of the second millennium B.C. An unanticipated discovery of a palace extension to the north has led to the uncovering not only of an earlier palace structure of a different orientation, dated tentatively at 1600 B.C. but also of two preceding city walls, and beneath these of the well-preserved remains of an acropolis gateway of the eighteenth, or even the nineteenth, century B.C. According to a description of this work in Sir Leonard's report (The Times, Sept. 3) it is an imposing structure, roughly seventy-five feet square, and consisting of twin towers joined by a bridge roofing the entrance passage. This passage has a system of three doorways. The gateway is built of mud brick reinforced by timbers, with massive limestone-faced piers for door-jambs. It is the prototype of the gates of later Hittite cities, such as Carchemish and Boghaz Keui. Assuming that confirmatory evidence of origin is forthcoming, it is the oldest example of Hittite architecture yet known. The conclusion as to its age and the relation of the succession of remains on the north side are corroborated by evidence from the south side, which includes painted pottery and figurines going back to the first century of the second millennium. Even more interesting, if possible, is the occurrence here of Cypriote pottery, including a sherd dated at three centuries earlier than this type appears in Cyprus itself. This with other evidence, Sir Leonard suggests, appears to demand older mainland archetypes for the wares of Bronze Age Cyprus, and once more illustrates the inter-relations of East and West in the early history of civilization.