“Here we see an uninterrupted settlement from the Paleolithic age to the Seljuk period,” said Archeology Professor Çiğdem Maner, regarding the last season of excavations at Turkish Kayalıpınar, known in antiquity as Samuha. She said remains from the Hittite, Byzantine, Roman, and Old Assyrian trade periods were found. Maner said last year’s findings raised the possibility that the site might contain the lost temple of the Hittite goddess Šauška.
“The state archives we uncovered in Kayalıpınar are extremely valuable for Hittite history,” said Maner. “Cuneiform documents will provide new information not only about the tradition of divination but also about the political and cultural world of the Hittites,” said Maner. She said the records also showed that priests and officials who practiced divination lived in the same buildings.
Maner said 56 cuneiform tablets were found at Kayalıpınar, many dealing with prophecy and bird divination. “The crown prince, the little prince, and the girl child-princess were mentioned,” said Maner, according to Posta. “Names of kings are also mentioned,” said Maner. “The place we found is a place where bird divination was done or archived,” said Maner.
The team also unearthed seal impressions linked to members of the royal family, officials, and priests, including seals belonging to Great King Hattusili III’s son Tuthaliya IV and other state officials, according to Milliyet. Twenty-two Hittite-period seal impressions were identified. “These seals provide important data about the political structure and state organization of the period. They also help us understand the function of the sealing building we excavated,” said Maner. She called the seal of the army scribe one of the most interesting findings.
The tablets included texts on bird divination practices known as mušen falı, which were interpreted by oracle practitioners, priests, or officials to assess outcomes. Maner said the Hittites believed good or bad events came from the gods and turned to divination to understand them. She added that the tablets indicated the continuation of the Hittite kingdom was determined through bird divination.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.