A Hittite cuneiform tablet about interpreting the flights of birds has been discovered at the ancient Hittite settlement of Samuha (modern-day Kayalıpınar) in central Turkey. The tablet and its text are complete and undamaged, which is rare. The cuneiform text covers the front, back and edges of the tablet.
Preliminary readings indicate that the text refers to the flight of birds, a key element in Hittite divination. The Hittites are known to have used omens and oracular practices to communicate between the human and divine realms. “This text belongs to the category of bird oracles and is particularly significant for understanding Hittite ritual culture,” said [excavation team leader Cigem] Maner.
The feature that distinguishes it from the other divination tablets found at the site is a hole in the center. Traces of rope material were found in the hole, and a wear pattern around the inside confirms that the tablet was likely suspended, either from someone’s neck or on a wall.
The settlement was occupied for millennia, starting as an ancient Assyrian trading colony (karum) in the 20th-18th centuries B.C. The Karum period city was destroyed by fire, but when the Hittites became the dominant power in the region in the 14th century B.C., they built a new city that was a major strategic launching pad for the Hittite military conquest and the central cult site for the worship of the Hittite goddess Ishtar.
Samuha became one of the most important religious centers in Near and Middle East, mentioned in Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Old Assyrian texts as well as Hittite ones. Most of the cuneiform texts that have been found at the site are related to the cult of Ishtar. Excavations at the site have found remains from the Assyrian trading colony era, the Hittite era, the Roman and early Christian eras.
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