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Yazılıkaya rock sanctuary near Ankara depicts more than 90 figures carved into limestone walls Lesser gods are seen marching toward the sun-goddess Hebat and the storm-god Teshub, the supreme deities Archaeologists believe the figures function as an ancient calendar, tracking the lunar cycles and the passing months They also explain the Hittite cosmos, divided into Earth, sky and the Underworld The reliefs were uncovered in 1834 but only now is their purpose clear

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw discovered evidence of destruction and capture of the ancient city of Metsamor, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the vicinity of Yerevan. "In the entire area of research we found layers of burning and ash. The city was probably captured by the army of Argishti I, the ruler of Urartu," told PAP Krzysztof Jakubiak, head of the project. Argishti I was the king of Urartu, the biblical Kingdom of Ararat in the Armenian Highlands. During his reign, the boundaries of the state expanded to the Caucasus, the area of...

A gap between linguistics and prehistoryThanks to the over 33,000 documents from Hattusha, the capital of the Hittite Kingdom, linguists have been able to gain a comprehensive insight into Luwian culture. Some fundamental publications include the book Arzawa, by Susanne Heinhold-Krahmer (1977); The Luwians, edited by H. Craig Melchert (2003); and Luwian Identities, edited by Alice Mouton and others (2013). Field-oriented excavating archaeologists, on the other hand, never mention Luwians in their explanatory models. The current knowledge regarding the Aegean Bronze Age has been summarized in a number of recently published voluminous works, without attention to any Luwian culture....

When Herodotus toured the known world during the fifth century BC to compile his international history, he did not forget his hometown Caria, now Bodrum in Turkey. Caria (the name means "the steep country") stood in the western part of Anatolia, whose coast, according to the ancient world map, stretched from mid-Ionia to Lycia and east to Phrygia. Mountains and valleys were the main features of the country's scenery, and it was poor in agriculture in comparison with its counterparts at the time: Egypt and Babylonia. Its hilltops were fortified, while villages were scattered in valleys and it was hard...

It is hard to explain why such a thing occurred. As well as why in Minoan culture there is no representation of or reference to a lord. "In Minoan culture we have no representation of a lord, neither has any name come down to us except for that of Minos and perhaps Radamanthes, about whom we do not have much information. Moreover, Homeric Idomeneas was a Mycenaean king of Crete", noted Mrs Tsipopoulou having already stressed the mystery of Minoan culture which continuously thickens, despite new finds and fresh interpretations. Here is an interesting piece of information from the archaeologist...

Archeologists at Adana's Sirkeli Mound have uncovered a double-skin wall dating back to the Iron Age. Located in the city's Ceyhan district, the wall bears the traces of a war... The defensive wall and waterways were discovered at the lower city part of the mound... they have also discovered stores and seeds on the upper part of the mound. They date back to the Iron and Early Bronze Ages... Novak said they found the wall after geophysical and surface researches that were conducted in the lower city of the mound. Excavation works have started in the light of that data....

For many years, the prevailing theory on how the Mycenaean civilisation collapsed was that devastating earthquakes led to the destruction of its palaces in the Peloponnese, southern Greece around 1,200 BC. Nevertheless, new evidence suggests that some type of internal uprising or an external invasion might have brought about the downfall of the Mycenaean civilisation. From 2012, a team led by German archaeologist Joseph Maran of Heidelberg University and geophysicist Klaus-G. Hinzen has been conducting research in Tiryns and Midea. The findings of their research were published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. "Although some of the...

A famed archaeologist well-known for discovering the sprawling 9,000-year-old settlement in Turkey called Çatalhöyük seems to have faked several of his ancient findings and may have run a "forger's workshop" of sorts, one researcher says. James Mellaart, who died in 2012, created some of the "ancient" murals at Çatalhöyük that he supposedly discovered; he also forged documents recording inscriptions that were found at Beyköy, a village in Turkey, said geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies Foundation. Zangger examined Mellaart's apartment in London between Feb. 24 and 27, finding "prototypes," as Zangger calls them, of murals and inscriptions that...

Vessey, being from Minnesota, was accustomed to telling Swedish jokes. Just as Irish jokes start with Pat and Mike, Swedish jokes start with Ole and Sven. When he became chairman, Vessey was advised that it wasn’t politically correct to tell ethnic jokes. So, as he would tell the story, he stopped telling Swedish jokes and told Hittite jokes instead. The Hittites were a group of people who arose in the Middle East about 500 B.C. and then disappeared, so it was safe to tell those jokes. Vessey would start his story saying, “Let me tell you about these two Hittites,...

The goddess of love, the Minoan Astarte, is the key figure that unlocks the mystery of the Phaistos Disk, according to linguist, archaeologist and coordinator of the program Erasmus of Crete Technological Institute; Gareth Owens. Speaking to the ANA -- MPA news agency, Owens said that after new data found in his research, his theory has changed slightly compared to the position he had expressed about a year ago. The focus is no longer the "pregnant mother", as originally estimated, but a "pregnant goddess" that takes shape in the face of Astarte, the goddess of love. "There is no doubt...

DNA analysis has debunked the longstanding theory that the Minoans, who some 5,000 years ago established Europe's first advanced Bronze Age culture, were from Africa. The Minoan civilisation arose on the Mediterranean island of Crete in approximately the 27th century BC and flourished for 12 centuries until the 15th century BC. But the culture was lost until British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans unearthed its remains on Crete in 1900, where he found vestiges of a civilisation he believed was formed by refugees from northern Egypt. Modern archaeologists have cast doubt on that version of events, and now DNA tests of...

Over 100 years of excavations on Crete have exposed elegant Minoan frescoes that once adorned the walls of the island’s Bronze Age palaces. This distinctively colorful Aegean art style flourished in the Middle Bronze Age (1750-1550 B.C.). The nearby inhabitants of Akrotiri, a city on the Cycladic island of Thera (modern Santorini), painted numerous artworks in the style of the Minoan frescoes before the island was decimated by a volcanic eruption in the late 17th or 16th century B.C. Until recently, there was no archaeological evidence of Minoan frescoes beyond the islands of the Aegean. Art exhibiting Aegean characteristics has...

The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 meters in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four meters. The figure's face is bearded, with beautifully preserved inlaid eyes made of white and black stone, and its hair has been coiffed in an elaborate series of curls aligned in linear rows. Both arms are extended forward from the elbow, each with two arm bracelets decorated with lion heads. The figure's right hand holds a spear, and in its left is a shaft of wheat. A crescent-shaped pectoral adorns...

A linguistics researcher at the Macquarie University in Australia has discovered that the language, known as Burushaski, which is spoken by about 90,000 people who reside in a remote area of Pakistan, is Indo-European in origin. Prof Ilija Casule’s discovery, which has now been verified by a number of the world’s top linguists, has excited linguistics experts around the world. An entire issue of the eminent international linguistics journal the Journal of Indo-European Studies is devoted to a discussion of his findings later this month. More than fifty eminent linguists have tried over many years to determine the genetic relationship...

Archaeologists have discovered two tumuluses during the excavations in the ancient city of Daskyleion in the northwestern province of Balikesir. Associate Professor Kaan Iren from the Mugla University who heads the excavation team, told reporters, "we found a gate in one of the tumuluses which leads to a grave chamber. There were remains of two skeletons in the grave. We believe that they belonged to noble people or to members of the royal family." "We also unearthed remains of a wooden desk in the tumulus. A glass bracelet, a silver earring, a perfume bottle and more than 30 coins were...

Close-up of palace walls. Credit: University of Missouri-St.Louis Pylos drain. Credit: University of Missouri-St Louis Clearing thick brush from a mound at his archaeological dig site in Pylos, Greece, Michael Cosmopoulos found a real-life palace dating back to the mythical Trojan War. The palace is from the Mycenaean period (1600-1100 B.C.), famous for such mythical sagas as the Trojan War. It is thought to sit within one of the capital cities of King Nestor, a personality featured in the legends of the war. "We are thrilled, excited and fascinated at the prospect of continuing its excavation," said Cosmopoulos, the Hellenic...

Who Were the Hurrians? Volume 61 Number 4, July/August 2008 New discoveries in Syria suggest a little-known people fueled the rise of civilization Excavations at the 3rd millennium city of Urkesh in Syria are revealing new information about the mysterious people who lived there, known as the Hurrians. This view of the city's royal palace shows the service area (left) and living quarters (right). (Ken Garrett) With its vast plaza and impressive stone stairway leading up to a temple complex, Urkesh was designed to last. And for well over a millennium, this city on the dusty plains of what is...

French explorer's bad luck in Syria avenged at last Tue 17 Oct 2006 11:45 AM ET By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ALEPPO, Syria, Oct 17 (Reuters) - First the 1920s French archaeologist ran out of money to uncover the treasures he suspected hidden under a Syrian castle, and then he ran out of time to see others finish the work. Twelve years too late for Georges Ploix de Rotrou, a German team has now revealed the full glory of the 500 square metre (5,400 sq ft) Temple of the Storm God that lay under the vast citadel in Aleppo. Ploix de...

Etruscan Demons, Monsters Unearthed Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Demonic Charioteer with the Shadow of DeathNov. 5, 2003 — Etruscan art, made of strange demons and monsters, is emerging in a Tuscan village, in what could be one of the most important discoveries of recent times, according to scholars who have seen the paintings. Lurking on the left wall of a 4th century B.C. tomb, the exceptionally preserved monsters have been unearthed during the ongoing excavation of the Pianacce necropolis in Sarteano, a village 50 miles from Siena, Italy. "So far we have found some scenes of banquets, snake-like monsters, demons,...

The Urartians established a kingdom around Lake Van in eastern Anatolia but failed to deal with severe winter conditions, especially snow, in an effective way, said Professor Veli Sevin on Wednesday, according to archaeological findings... Urartu was an ancient kingdom in eastern Anatolia centered in the mountainous region around Lake Van that existed from about 1,000 B.C. until 585 B.C. It stretched from northern Mesopotamia through the southern Caucasus, including parts of present-day Armenia up to Lake Sevan. The name Urartu is actually Assyrian, a dialect of Akkadian, and was given to the kingdom by its chief rivals to the...