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Anatolia’s Oldest Known Glass Bottle Reveals a Mystery From the Hittite World
More than 3,600 years ago, someone in Central Anatolia handled an object that would have been extraordinary even by the standards of the Bronze Age: a large, carefully decorated glass bottle. Found at Büklükale, a settlement on the Kızılırmak River southeast of Ankara, the vessel dates to around 1600 BCE and ranks among the oldest…
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Seeds of Ankara’s Endangered Flower Found in 4,000-Year-Old Hittite Vessel
Seeds linked to Ankara’s endangered Sevgi Flower have been found inside a 4,000-year-old Hittite vessel at Külhöyük in central Türkiye. The discovery places a plant now confined to a small area south of the capital within the region’s Bronze Age landscape. Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism described the remains as the earliest known evidence…
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Jerusalem Researchers Look Behind Ancient Bullae to Reveal What They Once Sealed
Ancient bullae from Jerusalem are usually studied for the seal impressions on their front faces. But a new research project is turning them over. On their backs, faint traces of papyrus, cord, cloth, wood, or jars may reveal what these clay sealings once protected. That hidden side is now at the center of a new…
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3,500-Year-Old Mitanni Archive Written in Akkadian and Seal Belonging to Hittite Prince Unearthed at Alalakh Mound
Archaeologists excavating the Alalakh Mound (Aççana Höyük) in Hatay, southern Türkiye, have uncovered a 3,500-year-old state archive written in Akkadian, the diplomatic language of the Late Bronze Age, along with seal impressions belonging to a previously unknown Hittite prince.The find reveals how two of the Near East’s most powerful kingdoms — the Mitanni Empire and…