Türkmen-Karahöyük is an archaeological site in Turkey located in the Konya plain. It is situated on a large hill north of the village of the same name. The ancient name of the place is unknown. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Çatalhöyük is located only about twenty kilometers to the west of Türkmen-Karahöyük.
Archaeology
The archaeological significance of the site was first identified in 2017 during a survey of the mound. James F. Osborne therefore started the Türkmen-Karajöyük Intensive Survey Project (TISP) in 2018, and the site was examined in more detail in the summer of 2019. The area of the mound and its surroundings were systematically examined for ceramic shards and other artifacts and statistically evaluated. Based on the ceramics found, and an inscription in hieroglyphic Luwian language script, it was shown that the site was important from the Bronze Age to antiquity.
Location
The Konya plain was a well-watered and fertile region in ancient times, and Türkmen-Karahöyuk was located on the northern shore of the now dried-up Lake Hotamış. The hill rises about 35 meters above the plain and covers almost 30 hectares. The settlement also extended into the plain northeast of the hill. Whether it also expanded southwards could not yet be investigated because of the modern village.
Just south of Türkmen-Karahöyük, the important mountain sites of Kızıldağ and Karadağ are located. These sites were important in Hittite religion.[1]
Late Chalcolithic and Old Assyrian period
The oldest datable finds date from the late Chalcolithic period around 4500 BC; they were found at the foot of the hill. The finds from the early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BC) also come from the edge of the hill.
The finds from the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1650 BC) extend over the entire hill, so that the settlement at that time covered about 30 hectares, which is roughly the size of other contemporary settlements on the Konya Plain. A shard with two stamp impressions indicates connections to the Old Assyrian period trading center in Kültepe (Level 1b). There are also some palaces of Konya-Karahöyük (a separate site about 50 km to the northwest of Türkmen-Karahöyük) that date to the Old Assyrian Trading Colony (karum) period.[2]
Late Bronze Age
During the Late Bronze Age (1650–1200) the site became a part of the Hittite Empire, but the Hittite name of the settlement is unknown. The site developed into a town with an area of at least 125 hectares. Finds of fine pottery at the site indicate the presence of a ruling class. During the Late Empire the site lay close to the borders of the Hittite regions known as the Lower Country, the Hulaya Riverland, and Tarḫuntašša, whose borders are not exactly known. According to Michele Massa et al., Türkmen-Karahöyük could be identical with the Hittite city of Tarḫuntašša.[3]
Iron Age
During the Early Iron Age (1200–600 BC) the city covered the same area as the Hittite city, while in antiquity the lower city was smaller, so that the settlement may have then covered 50 hectares.
The most important find was an Iron Age inscription of King Hartapu, which can be dated to the 8th century BC.
In Assyrian sources of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, the area east of the Konya Plain was called Tabal (state), and it is likely that Türkmen-Karahöyük also belonged to this state, which consisted of several smaller late Hittite kingdoms, of which Türkmen-Karahöyük was one.
^Michele Massa et al.A landscape-oriented approach to urbanisation and early state formation on the Konya and Karaman plains, Turkey, Anatolian Studies 70 (2020): 63-66
James F. Osborne: The city of Hartapu: results of the Türkmen-Karahöyük Intensive Survey Project, Anatolian Studies 70 (2020): 1–17. [doi:10.1017/S0066154620000046]
Petra Goedegebuure et al.: TÜRKMEN-KARAHÖYÜK 1: a new Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from Great King Hartapu, son of Mursili, conqueror of Phrygia. Anatolian Studies 70 (2020): 29–43; [doi:10.117//S0066154620000022]
John David Hawkins: Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Volume III: Inscriptions of the Hittite Empire and New Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2024, ISBN 978-3-11-077039-1, pp. 166–168.
