Kültepe
Encyclopedia
Kültepe is a modern village near the ancient city of Kaneš or Kanesh (Hittite
: Neša, occasionally Anisa), located in the Kayseri Province
of Turkey
's Central Anatolia Region
. The nearest modern city is Kayseri
, about 20 km southwest.
kingdom, from ca. 20th to 16th centuries BC. A late (c 1400 BC) witness to an old tradition includes a king of Kaneš called Zipani among seventeen local city-kings who rose up against the Akkadian Naram-Sin (ruled c.2254-2218 BC). It is the site of discovery of the earliest traces of the Hittite language
, and the earliest attestation of any Indo-European language, dated to the 20th century BC. The native term for the Hittite language was nešili "language of Neša".
, Uhna, raided Kanes; after which the Zalpuwans carried off the city's "Sius" idol. The king of Kussara
, Pithana
, conquered Level Ia Neša "in the night, by force"; but "did not do evil to anyone in it".
Neša revolted against the rule of Pithana's son Anitta, but Anitta quashed the revolt and made Neša his capital. Anitta further invaded Zalpuwa, took its king Huzziya
captive, and recovered the Sius idol for Neša.
In the 17th century BC, Anitta's descendents moved their capital to Hattusa
(which Anitta had cursed); thus founding the line of Hittite kings. These people named their language
Nešili, i.e. "the language of Neša".
In 1925 Bedric Hrozny excavated in the Karum area of Kultepe finding over 1000 cuneiform tablets, some of which ended up in Prague and some in Istanbul.
Modern archaeological work began in 1948 when Kültepe was excavated by a team from the Turkish Historical Society and the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums led by Tahsin Özgüç
until his death in 2005.
Some attribute Level II's burning to the conquest of the city of Assur
by the kings of Eshnunna
; but Bryce blames it on the raid of Uhna
. Some attribute Level Ib's burning to the fall of Assur to other nearby kings and eventually to Hammurabi of Babylon
.
In total, over 20,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated from the site.
. During the Bronze Age in this region, the Kârum was a portion of the city set aside by local officials for the early Assyria
n merchants to use without paying taxes, as long as the goods remained inside the kârum. The term kârum means "port" in Akkadian
, the lingua franca of the time, although it was extended to refer to any trading colony whether it bordered water or not.
Several other cities in Anatolia also had kârum, but the largest was Kaneš. This important kârum was inhabited by soldiers and merchants from Assyria
for hundreds of years, who traded local tin and wool for luxury items, foodstuffs and spices, and, woven fabrics from the Assyrian homeland and from Elam
.
The remains of the kârum form a large circular mound 500m in diameter and about 20m above the plain (a Tell
). The kârum settlement site is the result of several superposed stratigraphic periods. New buildings were constructed on top of the remains of the earlier periods, thus there is a deep stratigraphy
from prehistoric times to the early Hittite period.
The kârum was destroyed by fire at the end of both levels II and Ib. The inhabitants left most of their possessions behind to be found by modern archaeologists.
The findings have included enormous numbers of baked clay tablets, some that were enclosed in clay envelopes stamped using cylinder seal
s. The documents record common activities such as trade and legal arrangements. They record trade between the Assyrian colony and the city-state of Assur
, as well as trade between Assyrian merchants and local people. The trade was run by families, not by the state of Assyria. These Kültepe texts are the oldest written documents from Anatolia. Although they are written in Old Assyrian
, the Hittite
loanwords and names in these texts are the oldest record of any Indo-European language (see also Ishara
). Most of the archaeological evidence found is typical of Anatolia rather than Assyria, but the use of cuneiform writing as well as the dialect are the best indications of Assyrian presence.
. In 2003, researchers from Cornell University
dated wood in Level Ib from the rest of the city (which was built centuries earlier). The dendrochronologists dated the bulk of the wood from buildings of the Waršama Sarayi to 1832 BC, with further refurbishments up to 1779 BC.
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
: Neša, occasionally Anisa), located in the Kayseri Province
Kayseri Province
The Kayseri Province , in central Turkey, is an area that has been linked with mythological stories as well as important figures in Turkish history. It is located in Anatolia, and surrounded by the Mount Erciyes, the Mount Hasan and the Mount Ali...
of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
's Central Anatolia Region
Central Anatolia Region
The Central Anatolia Region is one of Turkey's seven census-defined geographical regions.- Provinces :Total population: 12,105,975* Aksaray Province* Ankara Province* Çankırı Province* Eskişehir Province* Karaman Province* Kayseri Province...
. The nearest modern city is Kayseri
Kayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
, about 20 km southwest.
History
Kaneš, inhabited continuously from the Chalcolithic period down to Roman times,flourished most strongly as an important Hattic/Hittite/Hurrian city, which contained a large merchant quarter (kârum) of the Old AssyrianOld Assyrian
Old Assyrian refers to the Old Assyrian period of the Ancient Near East, ca. 20th to 16th centuries BC *the Old Assyrian Empire, see Assyrian Empire*the Old Assyrian language, see Akkadian language...
kingdom, from ca. 20th to 16th centuries BC. A late (c 1400 BC) witness to an old tradition includes a king of Kaneš called Zipani among seventeen local city-kings who rose up against the Akkadian Naram-Sin (ruled c.2254-2218 BC). It is the site of discovery of the earliest traces of the Hittite language
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
, and the earliest attestation of any Indo-European language, dated to the 20th century BC. The native term for the Hittite language was nešili "language of Neša".
Kaneša
The king of ZalpuwaZalpuwa
Zalpuwa, also Zalpa, was an as-yet undiscovered Bronze Age Anatolian city of ca. the 17th century BC. Its history is largely known from the Proclamation of Anitta, CTH 1.Zalpuwa was by a "Sea of Zalpa"...
, Uhna, raided Kanes; after which the Zalpuwans carried off the city's "Sius" idol. The king of Kussara
Kussara
Kussara was a city of Bronze Age south-eastern Anatolia. The rulers of Kuššara extended their authority over central Anatolia, conquering Hittite-speaking Kanesh, destroying the future Hittite capital of Hattusa, and subjugating territories as far north as the Black Sea.A man named Pithana is the...
, Pithana
Pithana
Pithana was a Hittite Bronze Age king of the Anatolian city Kussara. He reigned ca. the 17th century BC. During his reign he conquered the city of Kanesh, heart of the Assyrian trading colonies network in Anatolia and core of the Hittite speaking territories....
, conquered Level Ia Neša "in the night, by force"; but "did not do evil to anyone in it".
Neša revolted against the rule of Pithana's son Anitta, but Anitta quashed the revolt and made Neša his capital. Anitta further invaded Zalpuwa, took its king Huzziya
Huzziya
Huzziya was the last recorded king of Zalpuwa. He was captured by Anitta the Hittite king of Neša. Anitta had been confronted with what appears to have been a military alliance of states stretching southwards from Zalpa, an alliance in which Piyusti, the king of Hatti, and Huzziya, the king of...
captive, and recovered the Sius idol for Neša.
In the 17th century BC, Anitta's descendents moved their capital to Hattusa
Hattusa
Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. It was located near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızıl River ....
(which Anitta had cursed); thus founding the line of Hittite kings. These people named their language
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
Nešili, i.e. "the language of Neša".
Archaeology of Kültepe
Modern archaeological work began in 1948 when Kültepe was excavated by a team from the Turkish Historical Society and the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums led by Tahsin Özgüç
Tahsin Özgüç
Tahsin Özgüç, was an eminent Turkish field archaeologist. His long career, began after the World War II and lasted up to the present, made him doyen of Anatolian archaeology....
until his death in 2005.
- Level IV-III. Little excavation has been done for these levels, which represent the site's first habitation. No writing is attested, and archaeologists assume that both levels' inhabitants were illiterate.
- Level II, 1974 BC - 1836 BC (Mesopotamian Middle Chronology according to Veenhof). Craftsmen of this time and place specialised in earthen drinking vessels in the shape of animals, often for religious rituals. During this period, Assyrian merchants established themselves in a merchant colony (kârumKarum (trade post)Karum is the name given to ancient Assyrian trade posts,in Anatolia, Turkey from 20th to 18th centuries BC.- Assyrian settlements :In the second millennium Anatolia was under the sovereignty of Hatti and later Hittite city states. Beginning by 1960 BC, Assyrian merchants established small colonial...
) attached to the city, which was by now called "Kaneš". Bullae of Naram-SinNaram-Suen of EshnunnaNaram-Suen was a king who ruled over Eshnunna during the later 19th century BCE, during its brief time of political power. He may or may not be the same person as a contemporaneous King of Assyria named Naram-Suen.-References:...
of EshnunnaEshnunnaEshnunna was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in central Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak .- History :Occupied from the Jemdet...
have been found toward the end of this level (Ozkan 1993). This level was burned to the ground. - Level Ib, 1798 BC - 1740 BC. After an interval of abandonment, the city was rebuilt over the ruins of the old, and again became a prosperous trade center. This trade was under the control of Ishme-Dagan, who was put in control of Assur when his father, Shamshi-Adad IShamshi-Adad IShamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I (fl. late 18th century BC (short chronology) was an Assyrian king. He rose to prominence when he carved out an empire encompassing much of Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor...
conquered Ekallatum and Assur. However, the colony was again destroyed by fire. - Level Ia. The city was reinhabited, but the Assyrian colony was no longer inhabited. The culture was early HittiteHittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
. Its name in Hittite became "Kaneša", but was more commonly contracted to "Neša".
Some attribute Level II's burning to the conquest of the city of Assur
Assur
Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
by the kings of Eshnunna
Eshnunna
Eshnunna was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in central Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak .- History :Occupied from the Jemdet...
; but Bryce blames it on the raid of Uhna
Uhna
Uhna was a king of the ancient Anatolian city of Zalpuwa, ca. the 17th century BC, who conquered the Hittite city of Neša....
. Some attribute Level Ib's burning to the fall of Assur to other nearby kings and eventually to Hammurabi of Babylon
Hammurabi
Hammurabi Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ʻAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer", from ʻAmmu, "paternal kinsman", and Rāpi, "healer"; (died c...
.
In total, over 20,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated from the site.
Kârum Kaneš
The quarter of the city of most interest to historians is the Kârum Kaneš, "merchant-colony city of Kaneš" in AssyrianAkkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
. During the Bronze Age in this region, the Kârum was a portion of the city set aside by local officials for the early Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n merchants to use without paying taxes, as long as the goods remained inside the kârum. The term kârum means "port" in Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
, the lingua franca of the time, although it was extended to refer to any trading colony whether it bordered water or not.
Several other cities in Anatolia also had kârum, but the largest was Kaneš. This important kârum was inhabited by soldiers and merchants from Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
for hundreds of years, who traded local tin and wool for luxury items, foodstuffs and spices, and, woven fabrics from the Assyrian homeland and from Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
.
The remains of the kârum form a large circular mound 500m in diameter and about 20m above the plain (a Tell
Tell
A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...
). The kârum settlement site is the result of several superposed stratigraphic periods. New buildings were constructed on top of the remains of the earlier periods, thus there is a deep stratigraphy
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
from prehistoric times to the early Hittite period.
The kârum was destroyed by fire at the end of both levels II and Ib. The inhabitants left most of their possessions behind to be found by modern archaeologists.
The findings have included enormous numbers of baked clay tablets, some that were enclosed in clay envelopes stamped using cylinder seal
Cylinder seal
A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture story', used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay. Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East, at the contemporary site of Susa in south-western Iran and at the early site...
s. The documents record common activities such as trade and legal arrangements. They record trade between the Assyrian colony and the city-state of Assur
Assur
Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
, as well as trade between Assyrian merchants and local people. The trade was run by families, not by the state of Assyria. These Kültepe texts are the oldest written documents from Anatolia. Although they are written in Old Assyrian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
, the Hittite
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
loanwords and names in these texts are the oldest record of any Indo-European language (see also Ishara
Ishara
Ishara is the Hittite word for "treaty, binding promise", also personified as a goddess of the oath.In Hurrian and Semitic traditions, Išḫara is a love goddess, often identified with Ishtar...
). Most of the archaeological evidence found is typical of Anatolia rather than Assyria, but the use of cuneiform writing as well as the dialect are the best indications of Assyrian presence.
Dating of the Waršama Sarayi
At Level II, the destruction was so total that no wood survived for dendrochronological studiesDendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
. In 2003, researchers from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
dated wood in Level Ib from the rest of the city (which was built centuries earlier). The dendrochronologists dated the bulk of the wood from buildings of the Waršama Sarayi to 1832 BC, with further refurbishments up to 1779 BC.
See also
- Cities of the ancient Near EastCities of the ancient Near EastThe largest cities in the Bronze Age ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age with some 30,000 inhabitants was the largest city of the time by far...
- Short chronology timelineShort chronology timelineThe short chronology is one chronology of the Near Eastern Bronze and Early Iron Age, which fixes the reign of Hammurabi to 1728 BC – 1686 BC and the sack of Babylon to 1531 BC....
- Tahsin ÖzgüçTahsin ÖzgüçTahsin Özgüç, was an eminent Turkish field archaeologist. His long career, began after the World War II and lasted up to the present, made him doyen of Anatolian archaeology....