Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History: Papers in Memory of Hans G. Guterbock

219 Pages·2002·4.939 MB·English

by  K. Aslihan Yener, Harry A. Hoffner, Simrit Dhesi

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
IN HITTITE ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY

Recent Developments
in
Hittite Archaeology and History
Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock
Edited by
K. Aslihan Yener and Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
with the assistance of
Simrit Dhesi
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
2002
ç Copyright 2002 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Recent developments in Hittite archaeology and history : papers in memory of
Hans G. Güterbock / edited by K. Aslihan Yener and Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
with the assistance of Simrit Dhesi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-57506-053-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Hittites—Congresses. 2. Turkey—Antiquities—Congresses.
3. Excavations (Archaeology)—Turkey—Congresses. I. Güterbock, Hans
Gustav, 1908– II. Yener, K. Aslihan. III. Hoffner, Harry A. IV. Dhesi,
Simrit.
DS66.R34 2001
939.8—dc21
2001033203
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI
Z39.48-1984. †‘
Contents
Excavations in Hittite Heartlands:
Recent Investigations in Late Bronze Age Anatolia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
K. Aslıhan Yener
The Storm-God at ºAin Dara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Robert L. Alexander†
Formation of the West Hurrian Pantheon: The Case of Ishara . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Alfonso Archi
Babyloniaca Hethitica:
The “babilili-Ritual” from Bogazköy (CTH 718) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Gary Beckman
Bearded or Beardless? Some Speculations on the Function of the Beard
among the Hittites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Hripsime Haroutunian
Hittite Seals and Sealings from the Ni§antepe Archive, Bogazköy:
A Prosopographical Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Suzanne Herbordt
The Treatment and Long-Term Use of Persons Captured
in Battle according to the Ma§at Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
Tombs and Memorials:
The (Divine) Stone-House and Hegur Reconsidered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Theo van den Hout
Palaces and Local Communities in Some Hittite Provincial Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Fiorella Imparati†
Problems in Hittite History, Solved and Unsolved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Horst Klengel
Gavurkalesi: Investigations at a Hittite Sacred Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Stephen Lumsden
Comparative Observations on Hittite Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Gregory McMahon
v
vi Contents
Tarhuntassa in the SÜDBURG Hieroglyphic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
H. Craig Melchert
Ku§aklı-Sarissa:
A Hittite Town in the “Upper Land” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Andreas Müller-Karpe
Ortaköy-Sapinuwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Aygül Süel
Homer and Hittite Revisited II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Calvert Watkins
The “Hittites” at ºAin Dara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Paul Zimansky
New Directions in the Study of Early Anatolian Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
Indexes
Index of Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Index of Modern Place-Names and Ancient Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Excavations in Hittite Heartlands:
Recent Investigations in Late Bronze Age Anatolia
K. Aslıhan Yener
University of Chicago
While planning the program for the American Oriental Society Meetings held in
Miami, Florida in 1997, Martha Roth, director of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary,
suggested that I organize an Anatolian archaeology session. Contributions in archae-
ology at this conference venue had dwindled over the years, prompting a special effort
to reintroduce these data at this forum rich with research papers on texts. This was
the perfect opportunity to integrate epigraphic documents and archaeology, two
complementary sets of data with fundamental, underlying relationships. Since literacy
began in Anatolia quite late (Assyrian Trading Colony period, ca. 20–18th century
b.c.), fewer choices were possible in selecting a time frame for the session. Not only
would the period selected have to be vibrant with respect to textual research but also
with respect to recent approaches in archaeological initiatives. In looking for previous
models for this more holistic approach, Hans Güterbock and his multifaceted corpus
of research in the Hittite period immediately came to mind. Over the decades, his
important contributions to Hittite philology and history have been equaled by his ele-
gant handling of archaeological information. His keen observations on Hittite nar-
rative art, seals, reliefs, rhyta, and other material culture have provided interpretive
insights into imagery and symbolic meaning that have inspired several generations of
archaeologists (see most recently Güterbock and Kendall 1995, Hoffner and Diamond
1997). Recently, an honorary doctorate was conferred on Hans Güterbock by the Dil
Tarih ve Ceografya Fakültesi of Ankara University in Turkey, spearheaded by the ar-
chaeological community. It is to the scholarship embodied by his approach to Hittit-
ology that this book is dedicated.
Thematically, the archaeological and philological papers at the AOS Hittite ses-
sion were staggered in succession to encourage attendance by specialists in both dis-
ciplines. The papers by Archi, Beckman, Imparati, Klengel, McMahon, Melchert,
van den Hout, and Watkins focus on philological and historical topics, while Süel,
Lumsden, and Müller-Karpe highlight the results of their excavations in Turkey. Im-
portantly, these new sites have recently yielded Hittite archives tying Anatolia to
Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia during this most international of periods, the
Late Bronze Age (ca.1600–1200 b.c.). Comments by Hoffner on these epigraphic
1
2 K. Aslıhan Yener
papers appear in the afterword. The contributions by Zimansky, Herbordt, and Al-
exander bring fresh syntheses of Hittite material culture, that is, architecture, sculp-
ture, and seals from new perspectives. Two additional and relevant Hittite studies by
Hoffner and Haroutunian have been included, all of which indicates that Hittite stud-
ies are alive, well, and thriving due in large part to Hans Güterbock. This introduc-
tion will briefly survey archaeological research relevant to the Anatolian Late Bronze
Age in general and Hittite sites in particular and comment briefly on some new
methodological contributions that were not included in the session but are neverthe-
less quite crucial in the reconstructions offered here.
From many perspectives, this is the right time to reexamine the relationships be-
tween the philological, historical, and archaeological evidence from the Hittite period.
Excavations in hitherto less studied regions, such as coastal settlements in the Aegean
(Panaztepe, Limantepe) and the Mediterranean (Sirkeli, Kinet Höyük, Mersin-
Yümüktepe), have begun to yield important Late Bronze Age information. In addi-
tion, increasing data from new surveys in the Hittite heartlands in central Anatolia by
the Kaman-Kalehöyük team and others (Esin et al. 1998, Omura 1996, Özsait 1998)
are being integrated into the growing databases for settlement histories all over Tur-
key. The Black Sea area, a relatively unexplored region often mentioned as the home-
land of the Kaska, has also been the target of new surveys that have yielded Late
Bronze Age and identifiably Hittite ceramics (Matthews 1998, Hiebert et al. 1997,
A. Özdogan et al. 1998). The mapping of long-term landscape history has also been
a priority for the new Oriental Institute Amuq Valley regional projects in southern
Turkey, an area often contested and subsequently incorporated under Hittite hege-
mony. Settlements in the Amuq (Plain of Antioch) have been delineated within a re-
gional demographic, environmental, and economic context. Consequently, this will
help place such events in a comparative framework in order to recognize significant
population decline, or an immigration of people, events rarely documented in Hittite
historical texts (Braidwood 1937, Wilkinson in Yener et al. 1996, Yener and Wilkin-
son 1997).
During the last two decades, the continual discovery of new sites has edged us
ever closer to a fuller identification of the relationship of diverse Anatolian cities to
the imperial Hittite center, Hattusa. New sites include Hatip near Konya, which
yielded a Hittite inscription of Kurunta, who identifies himself as Great King, son of
Muwatalli. Above the inscription is a massive site, 1000 m in diameter, atop a natural
outcrop surrounded by a fortification wall with towers dated to the Late Bronze Age/
Iron Age. Surface survey in the vicinity as well as within the walls has identified late
second millennium ceramics similar to the Late Bronze Age wares of Mersin-
Yümüktepe (Bahar 1998). The finds have important implications for the location of
Tarhuntassa. Similarly, attention has also been riveted on the new find of a relief
vessel at a site near Yörüklü Hüseyindede, Çorum (Lightfoot 1997, Ediz et al. 1999).
Dated stylistically to the Old Hittite period and the reign of Hattusili I (1650–1620
b.c.), the relief depicts two acrobats somersaulting over a bull, a theme also reflected
in a seal impression from Atchana, Alalakh level VII in the Amuq (Collon 1975), as
Excavations in Hittite Heartlands 3
well as the famous bull fresco at the Minoan Palace at Knossos in Crete. This pro-
vides further evidence for Anatolian influence on the cultures of the Aegean and may
indicate the direction of transmission. Indeed, earlier influence is also documented
by Middle Bronze Age lead disk weights at Kültepe, which are similar to Minoan
lead weights (Castle 1995) as well as sealings at Karahöyük Konya whose motifs re-
semble Aegean spiral motifs (Aruz 1993). Further directional contact is also suggested
by central Anatolian obsidian found in Vat room deposits at Knossos.
Perhaps reflective of a new visibility in recent Late Bronze Age excavations in
Turkey is the reinvestigation of major Hittite monuments. One notable example is
the discovery of a relief of a god and goddess with an elaborate radial headdress and
bull protomes on a sluice that directs the flow of water into the sacred pool at Eflatun
Pınar near Bey§ehir (Özenir 1998). The new configurations greatly amplify the sa-
cred nature of the waterworks at this important sacred site. Remains of Hittite dams
were unearthed at Karakuyu in Kayseri (Emre 1993). Similarly, sacred pools/reser-
voirs with inscriptions of Suppiluliuma II are also a part of the most recent finds at
the new Bogazköy excavations now headed by Seeher. Classification and interpreta-
tion of material finds, as well as description and restoration of architecture, have been
comprehensive over the last 90 years since the excavations at Bogazköy-Hattusa be-
gan (Seeher 1995, Neve 1998) and are continuing under the new director. Other in-
vestigations utilizing modern technology in the form of instrumental analyses will
be of interest to both geoarchaeologists and archaeologists. New GIS remote sensing
and other gradient survey magnetometry techniques have increased the precision of
mapping subsurface architecture (Stümpel 1995, 1997; Becker and Jansen 1994), and
newly undertaken surveys around the hinterland of Bogazköy give contextuality to
this extraordinary capital city, Hattusa (Seeher 1997). Relationships between Egyp-
tian monumental architecture and the hauntingly pyramid-like Sphinx Gate sector
have recently been explored as a result of the restoration project. Likewise, the su-
perb engineering skills of the Hittites are again demonstrated with the findings of
viaducts at Nı§antepe, as well as the massive granaries and metallurgical installations
at Büyükkale (Seeher 1997).
In numerous sites across Turkey, geophysical prospecting has not only delineated
the locations of fortification walls and sub-surface structures but has also greatly en-
hanced the understanding of site sizes. Perhaps the best example of a radical change
in areal site proportions is the reassessment of the Troy settlement, which was origi-
nally thought to be 2 hectares and now measures at least 30 hectares. The high mound
and the outer town to the south are now recognized as similar to central Anatolian
city-state systems with a high fortified mound and a lower fortified settlement, often
at the level of the plain. This new understanding places Troy within the typology of
Anatolian sites such as Hattusa, with its royal residence complex in Büyükkale and its
outer town, as well as the high mound/lower town configuration at Kültepe during
the Assyrian Trading Colony period. New excavations at Troy have also added to the
increasingly tangible possibility of Troy-Hittite interaction during the Trojan war,
with a bronze stamp seal with an Anatolian hieroglyphic inscription from Troy VIIb