The 2024 AGM of the London Centre for the Ancient Near East will be held at 6pm on April 22nd in UCL North West Wing, G22, and will be followed by a lecture in memory of David Hawkins.
Online attendance should be possible: register via the following link at Eventbrite, and you should be sent a Zoom link on registration.
New Discoveries in the Lower Land:
Hittite Imperial Sites and Inscriptions of the 2nd Millennium BC
in Southern Central Türkiye
Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Maner
Koç University, Department of Archaeology and History of Art
Between 2013-2021 I had the unique opportunity to conduct a survey project in Southern Central Türkiye, which led to the discovery of a Luwian Hieroglyphic inscription dating to the time period of King Tuthalija IV. The KEYAR survey Project had the aim to survey the southeastern provinces of the Konya plain (Ereğli, Halkapınar, Karapınar and Emirgazi) and is the first comprehensive and systematic survey conducted in this region. The intentions of this survey are to understand the settlement pattern, road networks, passages over the Taurus Mountains; raw material sources and supply chains and their impact on socio-economic dynamics and formation of elites during the Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 3000-500 BC). The surveyed region is located to the North of the Taurus Mountains, South of Konya, and between Karaman and Niğde. Known to the Hittites as the Lower Land, this region was also a frontier between Hatti and Tarhuntassa. This presentation will discuss the results of the survey and new equations of Hittite landmarks and place-names in the Southern Konya region.
Photo: J. David Hawkins by the Hieroglyphic Luwian Rock Inscription, Burunkaya. GNT.07.01.sld.17. Hatice Gonnet-Bağana Hitit Koleksiyonu, Koç Üniversitesi Özel Koleksiyonlar ve Arşivler
