The Hittite Prince Who Stole an Empire
Hattusili began life as a sickly child and spare prince, but survived and persevered to capture the throne, becoming Great King of the Hittite Empire.
Cyprus and Ugarit: A Tale of Two Late Bronze Age Mercantile Polities
Cyprus and Ugarit were two very different societies but in the Late Bronze Age, they shared a vital maritime and mercantile link that had a transformative impact on Cyprus.
Processing Geospatial Data in Archaeology: Introducing LuwianSiteAtlas for Bronze Age Western Anatolia
Archaeological field projects generate an immense amount of data. How can we use digital technologies to make complex geospatial data more useful for researchers?
Tree Rings, Drought, and the Collapse of the Hittite Empire
February 2023 | Vol. 11.2 By Eric Cline The recent Nature study about drought and the fall of the Hittite Empire doesn’t just make for good headlines, it adds to our knowledge
The Phaistos Disk–An Enigmatic Artifact in its Cultural Context
The Phaistos Disk is a unique Minoan object that has intrigued scholars since its discovery in 1908. Still undeciphered, the disk displays over 240 signs in a spiral. Is it authent
The Symbolic Representation of the Cosmos in the Hittite Rock Sanctuary of Yazılıkaya
The Hittite sanctuary at Yazılıkaya functioned as a calendar. But the carefully carved galleries of gods and goddesses depicted much more, a representation of the cosmos moving t
Women in Early Mesopotamian Royal Inscriptions
There are few references to women in early Mesopotamian inscriptions. But those that are preserved show that women – especially high status ones – had important social roles.
What is a ‘House of a God’?
Ancient Near Eastern temples are frequently described as a ‘house of a God’? But what can we learn when temples do not resemble houses?
A Calendar in Stone: Hittite Yazılıkaya
All cultures have calendars. Some also make stone monuments. Hittites’ stone calendar included depictions of some of their thousands of gods.
The Dolmen Tour and House of Heritage in Menjez (Akkar – North Lebanon)
Megaliths like dolmens are common around the world, including in northern Lebanon. A recent project worked with the local community to study, conserve and develop dolmens as a tour