Hittite Research Articles

1800 BC – Trade and Transformation in Middle Bronze Age Greece. An Essay on Regionality and Inter-regionality in Middle Bronze Age and Early Mycenaean Aegean

Abstract The article confirms that profound economic, social, and political transformations occurred around 1800 BC on the Greek Mainland and especially on the Peloponnese. We underline that the former century – the 19th century saw the creation of chiefdom societies in parts of the Mainland and consider the 18th century to create the economic, social, and political structures of the Mycenaean state. We have seen that the external relations with the tribes on the Greek Mainland were with the Cyclades, while no relations with Crete are attested during the period of the early shaft graves in Mycenae (MHIIIA). In the Eastern Mediterranean, the 18th century BC saw the fall of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, the rise of the Assyrian dynasty under Shamshi-Addad, the kingdom of Hammurabi of Babylon, the early Hittite kingdom and the establishment of Troy VIa in northwest Anatolia. We consider this tremendous boom in the Eastern Mediterranean to have inspired the creation of the secondary (‘derivative’) Mycenaean state. The intention is to show that using a high-resolution diachronic time scale makes it possible to create a narrative of gradual social, economic, and political transformations from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean area. The article is divided into two sections. First, a summary of the most recent results describing chronology and social transformations in Middle Bronze Age and early Mycenaean Greece (‘status analyses’) and second, a conclusion estimating what these data tell us about the origin of the Mycenaean society. To reach this conclusion, we have constructed an evolutionary model in order to establish a gradual development of Mycenaean society. The conclusion based on our evolutionary model seems to advocate for a strong influence from the eastern Mediterranean countries, creating the social and economic structure of the Mycenaean society.

Filling the ponds of Hattuşa - a geohydrological approach to determine inflows by time and volume

In the ruins of Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittite Empire more than 3,000 years ago, large, sedimented water storage ponds have been uncovered since 1998. An investigation based on time series of measured groundwater levels, showed that the ponds were supplied from layered aquifers which were opened at their source horizons directly at the uphill edge of the pond. When the groundwater level at the pond exceeds a threshold given by the geology at that edge, water pours into the pond. The principles and the path of filling become clear, but not the volumes and time distribution of the transfers. These results of the previous studies were amply published and are shortly summarized. The present investigation is also based on the time series of groundwater levels and of the discharge of a modern fountain as well as the local hydrogeological properties. The approach is simple but shows the effect of storage in the aquifer which delays the outflow into the pond, so that water from the rainy season was available in the dry season. Also, the annual outflow values are determined. Besides gaining knowledge it is an aim of the article to encourage interdisciplinary and process-oriented thinking.

Ritual as an Aspect of Cultural Integration: Ugarit, Emar, and the Hittites in Syria

Abstract Although the Syrian kingdoms of the 13th century BCE may not have been integrated into the Hittite empire politically or economically, there is evidence that the Hittites employed strategies of cultural integration – part of bridging the geographical and social divide between the rulers and the ruled. The recently published documents from Ugarit reveal that both the Hittite Great king himself, as well as the King of Karkamiš, who administered the Syrian kingdoms, participated in Ugaritic ritual management and sent Hittite agents to offer sacrifices foreign to Ugarit. These features resonate with the emerging understanding of ritual practice at Emar as deeply influenced by Hittite ritual ideas and closely managed by Hittite officials, raising anew the question of Emar’s cult for “the gods of Ḫatti.” This investigation demonstrates aspects of foreign involvement in Ugaritic and Emarite ritual that contributed to the ongoing negotiation of power between those regions as political actors.

Several Unpublished Hittite Cuneiform Tablet Fragments From Boğazköy: Bo 6659+Bo 6712, Bo 6662, Bo 6690, Bo 6693, Kbo 5.9(Bo 2027)+Bo 6691

The main subject of our article is the unpublished six fragments of Hittite cuneiform tablets which are stored in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara and were discovered in the early period excavations made in Boğazköy, the centre of the Hittite Empire. In our study, the dating of the Hittite fragments of cuneiform tablets nos.Bo 6659, Bo 6712, Bo 6662, Bo 6690, Bo 6693, and Bo 6691, their joining (association) with other Hittite cuneiform tablets and their duplicates are analysed. Besides, transliterations and translations of the mentioned tablet fragments are made, and their photographs are included.

Going Local: An Agency-Based Approach to Collapse, Resistance, and Resilience in Hittite Anatolia

Abstract Crisis and collapse have long been prominent themes in Hittite studies (much more so than the related topics of resistance and resilience) and most of the extant body of scholarship on these themes have concentrated on the disintegration of the Hittite Empire around 1200 BCE. Though the events, conditions and processes that culminated in the disintegration of the Hittite Empire elude historical reconstruction, recent studies have unanimously rejected monocausal explanations of collapse in favor of the view that it was brought about by a combination of factors – internal, external, acute or chronic. In Hittite scholarship, the study of collapse and its aftermath have typically operated within a markedly state-centered and progressivist framework, focusing primarily on figuring out “what went wrong.” Meanwhile, especially in text-based studies, the agency and resilience of local, small(er)-scale, peripheral, and non-state individuals and communities, as well as their role in the construction, maintenance, and collapse of the Hittite empire, remain largely overlooked. The aim of the present paper is to shift the focus and scale of analysis away from the state, and to draw out from the textual record, the long-term agency, resistance, and resilience of local, small-scale, and often non-state individuals, communities, or socio-political institutions, which have typically been left out of text-based modern narratives. This paper will reassess the prominent view of the Hittite king (and state) as the absolute political, military, judicial, and religious authority, and argue that certain local and non-state communities and socio-political institutions exercised diverse kinds of agency, were remarkably resilient in the long term, and survived the final collapse of the Hittite state. In order to situate the inquiry in its broader scholarly and intellectual context, it will begin with an overview of where things stand in the study of the Hittite collapse. The next step will be to identify individual or collective local actors in the textual record. It will lastly focus on the interactions of diverse local agents with the Hittite state.

Once upon a time in Anatolia: the kings with bulging eyes.

The Hittite Empire, formed by the Hittites who settled in central Anatolia at the beginning of the second millennium BC, has left behind rich archeological remains. In this historical review, statues of the Hittite priest-kings, King Idrimi, King Šuppiluliuma, and King Tarhunza, who ruled in these lands in ancient times, are analyzed. Graves' disease (GD) is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Patients with GD are also at risk of developing Graves' orbitopathy (GO). Upper eyelid retraction and exophthalmos (bulging eyes) are common in patients diagnosed with GO. Could the kings who lived in Anatolia at different times in the distant past have suffered from the same disease?

A Culinary Perspective on North-Central Anatolia: An Overview of Cooking Facilities across the Late Bronze and Iron Ages

This paper presents the evidence related to the spread of cooking methods in north-central Anatolia during the Late Bronze and Early and Middle Iron Ages (1650-700 BC), with particular emphasis on fire installations and cooking tools collected during the last century of archaeological activities. Ovens, hearths, andirons, cooking pots, and baking plates are a constant presence within the various settlements of the Anatolian plateau. This essay will reconstruct the history of cuisine and eating customs across the Late Bronze and Iron Ages through archaeological evidence and complementing it with ethnographic research. This approach, indeed, offers extra information on foodways not available in written sources, especially when the latter are lacking or reticent. Finally, the data and information on daily life’s cooking and food preparation will be employed as a lens to identify broader social and economic phenomena prompted by the rise and fall of the Hittite Empire in the heart of the Anatolian Plateau.

Reflections on the Qaṭna Letters TT1–5 (II): Hittite God-Napping in Syria

Abstract This article discusses and attempts to contextualize a few references to the practice of god-napping in the Qaṭna letters TT2–5 and in the Amarna letter EA 55. The references to god-napping in said letters enrich the debate on why the New Hittite Kingdom historiography, as opposed to the Old Hittite one, does not mention this practice, since the texts were probably written during or in the wake of Šuppiluliuma’s First Syrian War (ca. 1340). It is posited that the god-napping actions reflected in the texts concerning the fall of Qaṭna obeyed not only religious but also political and strategic motivations. God-napping was used whenever the New Hittite empire considered that it benefitted its strategic and cultic interests, even though it was no longer recorded by the Hittite historiography.

Estimation of Daily Maize Gross Primary Productivity by Considering Specific Leaf Nitrogen and Phenology via Machine Learning Methods

Maize gross primary productivity (GPP) contributes the most to the global cropland GPP, making it crucial to accurately estimate maize GPP for the global carbon cycle. Previous research validated machine learning (ML) methods using remote sensing and meteorological data to estimate plant GPP, yet they disregard vegetation physiological dynamics driven by phenology. Leaf nitrogen content per unit leaf area (i.e., specific leaf nitrogen (SLN)) greatly affects photosynthesis. Its maximum allowable value correlates with a phenological factor conceptualized as normalized maize phenology (NMP). This study aims to validate SLN and NMP for maize GPP estimation using four ML methods (random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), convolutional neutral network (CNN), and extreme learning machine (ELM)). Inputs consist of vegetation index (NDVI), air temperature, solar radiation (SSR), NMP, and SLN. Data from four American maize flux sites (NE1, NE2, and NE3 sites in Nebraska and RO1 site in Minnesota) were gathered. Using data from three NE sites to validate the effect of SLN and MMP shows that the accuracy of four ML methods notably increased after adding SLN and MMP. Among these methods, RF and SVM achieved the best performance of Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) = 0.9703 and 0.9706, root mean square error (RMSE) = 1.5596 and 1.5509 gC·m−2·d−1, and coefficient of variance (CV) = 0.1508 and 0.1470, respectively. When evaluating the best ML models from three NE sites at the RO1 site, only RF and CNN could effectively incorporate the impact of SLN and NMP. But, in terms of unbiased estimation results, the four ML models were comprehensively enhanced by adding SLN and NMP. Due to their fixed relationship, introducing SLN or NMP alone might be more effective than introducing both simultaneously, considering the data redundancy for methods like CNN and ELM. This study supports the integration of phenology and leaf-level photosynthetic factors in plant GPP estimation via ML methods and provides a reference for similar research.

Animals in the legal codes of the countries of the Ancient Near East - Assyria and the Hittite state

In the ancient countries of Mesopotamia, animals were subject to many legal regulations. These regulations applied to domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, dogs and bees. They concerned animal trade and rental animals, the seizure of animals, compensation for bodily injury to animals and various legal sanctions related to the coexistence of animals and humans. Legal records also include evidence of veterinary procedures performed on animals, such as castration of males. The authors analyze legal records from the Hittite Empire and Assyria of the Middle Assyrian period. The codes also contain first regulations aimed at animal protection. Hittite law codifies sexual intercourse between humans and animals.

Thick Places: Urban Place-Making in the Hittite Empire

Thick Places: Urban Place-Making in the Hittite Empire

Beyond Sun, Sand, and Sea: The Role of Hittite Heritage in the Transformation of Turkey s Cultural Heritage Regimes

This article scrutinizes the cultural heritage regimes pertaining to the Hittite Empire within the Turkish context, with a specific emphasis on archival records, media narratives, and significant political figures. Drawing upon the concept of cultural heritage regimes, this paper argues that the Hittite cultural heritage played a pivotal role in crafting the self-understanding of the emergent Turkish Republic. The focus lies on the strategic appropriation of Hittite symbols by the Republic to foster a palpable connection with an ancient past that thrived within the geographical bounds of contemporary Turkey. This connection aimed to kindle a sense of unity and shared origins among Turkish citizens. In a significant shift, the twenty-first century exhibits a noticeable change in priorities where the media discourse primarily accentuates the economic potential of Hittite cultural artifacts, largely in the context of heritage tourism. Coupled with this economic and touristic orientation is a deliberate endeavor to redefine Turkey’s image. By strategically projecting Turkey’s historical depth, the aim is to catalyze heritage tourism and move beyond the country’s mere representation as a natural “paradise” known for its stereotypical trio of sun, sand, and sea. This shift exemplifies a metamorphosis of cultural heritage regimes, where the anticipated fiscal returns from heritage tourism begin to steer the narrative, simultaneously highlighting the economic dividends of cultural preservation and catalyzing a redefinition of Turkey’s global image.

Issues of the history of the Early Hittite Kingdom

Issues of the history of the Early Hittite Kingdom

Resilience Theory, Human Agency, and Political Archaeology: A RT Revised Model for the Understanding of the Late Bronze – Iron Age Transition in the Post-Hittite World

Abstract Over the last twenty years, due to the growing concern with the human-environment relationship in the contemporary world as well as in the study of the ancient world, Resilience Theory (RT) has been adopted and adapted from the study of ecosystems to the study of stress dynamics within socio-political systems. The adaptation is indebted to the seminal work of Holling and Gunderson (2002. “Resilience and Adaptive Cycles.” In Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems, edited by L. H. Gunderson, and C. S. Holling, 25–62. Washington, DC: Island Press), reviewed recently for application in archaeology in a volume edited by Faulseit (2016b. “Collapse, Resilience, and Transformation in Complex Societies: Modeling Trends and Understanding Diversity.” In Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies, edited by R. K. Faulseit, 3–26. Visiting Scholar Conference Volumes. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press). While social scientists, anthropologists and archaeologists interested in system theories have welcomed this new interpretative tool for the study of rapid change in socio-political systems, RT has been considered unsatisfactory and substantially rejected by several scholars in the humanities because of the lack of freedom and intention assigned to human actors. After a short presentation of these premises, the paper seeks to affirm a different model for a social cycle of formation-growth-maturity-release, in which resilience is only one among a number of possible outcomes of the release phase, depending on the collective/political choice/orientation of a society. Put simply, the new model suggests reorganization and transformation as two alternative outcomes alternative to resilience. The model is applied to the case study of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) – Early Iron Age (EIA) transition in Anatolia and north Syria, corresponding to the time of the fall and aftermath of the Hittite empire. It will be shown that the adoption of the model offers a productive interpretive key to understand different outcomes in the new fragmented reality.

Trojan War and Epic Cycle: The Historical and Literary Version Where, How, When and Why The Trojan War Myth was invented

There are two aspects about the Trojan War, the historical and the literary. For 1200 BC, the Late Bronze Age there are two epigraphical testimonies, the Hettite inscriptions and the Linear B tablets. Due to the fact that the latter do not contain historical information, only the Hettitic inscriptions remain, which provide us with very important historical information about the relationships between the Hittite empire, the kingdom of Troy and the kingdom of Ahhijawa. An important contribution to the historical reality is also offered by the excavations of the professor Manfred Korfmann (University of Tübingen) that brought to light the lower city with a moat. So the city is a typical Eastern city with Appaliuna (=Apollo) as one of the main gods. The Treaty of Alaksandu, king of Troy, and Muwatalli, king of Hattussa, and other Hittite documents confirm that Troy was a vassal of the Hittite empire and thus under its protection. Therefore, in the 13th century BC the Trojan War could not have taken place, as the Achaeans would have faced the powerful Hittite force. In the 12th century the Achaeans were not in a position to campaign, because the Mycenaean centres had collapsed. So, the Trojan War is a literary and not a historical event. Thus, the Epic Cycle is examined with the various works and more specifically the Iliad and the Odyssey, their grammar, their structure, the editing of the text during the Alexandrian age and the famous Homeric question.

Trojan War and epic cycle: the historical and literary version where, how, when and why the Trojan War myth was invented

There are two aspects about the Trojan War, the historical and the literary. For 1200 BC, the Late Bronze Age there are two epigraphical testimonies, the Hettite inscriptions and the Linear B tablets. Due to the fact that the latter do not contain historical information, only the Hettitic inscriptions remain, which provide us with very important historical information about the relationships between the Hittite empire, the kingdom of Troy and the kingdom of Ahhijawa. An important contribution to the historical reality is also offered by the excavations of the professor Manfred Korfmann (University of Tübingen) that brought to light the lower city with a moat. So the city is a typical Eastern city with Appaliuna (=Apollo) as one of the main gods. The Treaty of Alaksandu, king of Troy, and Muwatalli, king of Hattussa, and other Hittite documents confirm that Troy was a vassal of the Hittite empire and thus under its protection. Therefore, in the 13th century BC the Trojan War could not have taken place, as the Achaeans would have faced the powerful Hittite force. In the 12th century the Achaeans were not in a position to campaign, because the Mycenaean centres had collapsed. So, the Trojan War is a literary and not a historical event. Thus, the Epic Cycle is examined with the various works and more specifically the Iliad and the Odyssey, their grammar, their structure, the editing of the text during the Alexandrian age and the famous Homeric question.

Stable isotopes and paleodiet of the ancient inhabitants of Nueva Esperanza: A late Holocene site from Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia)

AbstractStable isotope‐based dietary reconstructions of late Holocene agriculturalists from Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia) are limited to the late Muisca period. Accordingly, the dietary patterns and feeding behaviors of people living during the Herrera and Early Muisca periods remain largely unknown. This study aims to present new stable isotope data to discuss the dietary patterns of agriculturalists inhabiting Nueva Esperanza (Sabana de Bogota) during the last 2300 years B.P. In addition, we present the radiocarbon chronology of the site to assess dietary change during the site occupation phases. Data for δ13Ccol and δ15Ncol were obtained from bone/dentine collagen and dental calculus from humans (n = 71) and faunal (n = 20) skeletal remains. The local isotopic ecology was investigated, and the human data were assessed by age, sex, and time period. Humans presented mostly mixed diets with a predominance of maize, supplemented by C3 resources (plants and animals), although some individuals exhibited distinct trends across the C3–C4 range. According to isotopic ecology and other lines of archaeological evidence, maize and C3 resources (plants and animals) mostly contributed to the human diets, whereas C4‐feeding animals were less important resources. Bone/dentine collagen and calculus isotope data revealed only minor differences among age groups, sexes, and periods suggesting relatively homogeneous diets at the NE society throughout the late Holocene. Likewise, both kinds of isotopic data display distinct dietary trends suggesting the effect of postmortem processes in the isotopic composition of dental calculus. The isotopic evidence for the NE site suggests similar diachronic trajectories of dietary specializations at the regional level and minor differences regarding maize incorporation into the diet and its standardized use and consumption. These results suggest at the regional level similar patterns of dietary change at the Sabana de Bogotá during the late Holocene.

Networks of Specialized Knowledge

Recent research focused on the regions of Malatya and the northern Levant has allowed scholars to improve our understanding of the political history of the polities of Malizi and Palastina. The present article examines recent archaeological evidence from Arslantepe and several northern Levantine sites alongside a corpus of textual and iconographic data from the upper Euphrates and the northern Levant in an attempt to identify Early Iron Age networks of cultural exchange that resulted in shared specialized cultic and artistic knowledge. While networks of interaction between these regions may have begun as a product of persistent sociopolitical ties following the fragmentation of the Hittite Empire, this article proposes that it is due to the resilience of major cult centers that Malizi and Palastina were able to exchange specialized cultic knowledge and artistic traditions and employ them in the definition of their new Iron Age cultic and political communities.

Tree Rings Hint at the Fall of the Hittite Empire

The Bronze Age civilization adapted to changes in climate but suffered during a prolonged crisis.

Mitanni - Hittite Treaties During the Period (1480-1270 BC)

This research deals with the Mitanni - Hittite treaties during the period (1480-1270 BC), those treaties that had a great impact on the political and economic situation on the two kingdoms, especially the Mitanni kingdom. Where the Mitanni were at the beginning of the formation of their kingdom and during the period of the treaties, in a position of power so that it can be said that this type of treaties between two parties takes the form of equivalent treaties. However, the political conditions of the Mitanni kingdom have changed and its conditions have become bad as a result of the internal divisions between the ruling family, which in turn led to the pursuit of each of its princes wishing to ascend the throne to search for an ally against the other princes, in order to reach power. Therefore, treaties were made with neighboring powers hostile to the Mitanni kingdom, such as the Hittite kingdom as well as the Assyrian kingdom. The result of these treaties was that the Mitanni kingdom lost its complete independence and became subject to dependency. The final result was that it was completely eliminated by the Assyrians .