Date:

Archaeologists unearth extraordinary human sculpture in Turkey

The human figure, intact to just above the waist, stands 1.5 metres tall (photo by Jennifer Jackson)

A beautiful and colossal human sculpture is one of the latest cultural treasures unearthed by an international team at the Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP) excavation site in southeastern Turkey. A large semi-circular column base, ornately decorated on one side, was also discovered. Both pieces are from a monumental gate complex that provided access to the upper citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 1000-738 BC).

“These newly discovered Tayinat sculptures are the product of a vibrant local Neo-Hittite sculptural tradition,” said Professor Tim Harrison, the Tayinat Project director and professor of Near Eastern Archaeology in the University of Toronto’s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. “They provide a vivid glimpse into the innovative character and sophistication of the Iron Age cultures that emerged in the eastern Mediterranean following the collapse of the great imperial powers of the Bronze Age at the end of the second millennium BC.”

- Advertisement -
The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 meters in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four meters

The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 metres in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four metres. The figure’s face is bearded, with beautifully preserved inlaid eyes made of white and black stone, and its hair has been coiffed in an elaborate series of curls aligned in linear rows. Both arms are extended forward from the elbow, each with two arm bracelets decorated with lion heads. The figure’s right hand holds a spear, and in its left is a shaft of wheat. A crescent-shaped pectoral adorns its chest. A lengthy Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription, carved in raised relief across its back, records the campaigns and accomplishments of Suppiluliuma, likely the same Patinean king who faced a Neo-Assyrian onslaught of Shalmaneser III as part of a Syrian-Hittite coalition in 858 BC.

The second sculpture is a large semi-circular column base, approximately one metre in height and 90 centimetres in diameter, lying on its side next to the human figure. A winged bull is carved on the front of the column and it is flanked by a sphinx on its left. The right side of the column is flat and undecorated, an indication that it originally stood against a wall.

“The two pieces appear to have been ritually buried in the paved stone surface of the central passageway through the Tayinat gate complex,” said Harrison. The complex would have provided a monumental ceremonial approach to the upper citadel of the royal city. Tayinat, a large low-lying mound, is located 35 kilometres east of Antakya (ancient Antioch) along the Antakya-Aleppo road.

The head and torso of the human figure, intact to just above its waist, stands approximately 1.5 meters in height, suggesting a total body length of 3.5 to four meters….

The presence of colossal human statues, often astride lions or sphinxes, in the citadel gateways of the Neo-Hittite royal cities of Iron Age Syro-Anatolia continued a Bronze Age Hittite tradition that accentuated their symbolic role as boundary zones, and the role of the king as the divinely appointed guardian or gate keeper of the community. By the ninth and eighth centuries BC, these elaborately decorated gateways, with their ornately carved reliefs, had come to serve as dynastic parades, legitimizing the power of the ruling elite. The gate reliefs also formed linear narratives, guiding their audiences between the human and divine realms, with the king serving as the link between the two worlds.

- Advertisement -

The Tayinat gate complex appears to have been destroyed following the Assyrian conquest of the region in 738 BC, when the area was paved over and converted into the central courtyard of an Assyrian sacred precinct. These smashed and deposited monumental sculptures also include a magnificently carved lion that was discovered last year and Hieroglyphic Luwian-inscribed stelae (stone slabs or pillars used for commemoratives purposes). Together these finds hint of an earlier Neo-Hittite complex that might have once faced the gateway approach.

Scholars have long speculated that the reference to Calno, identified as one of the “kingdoms of the idols” in Isaiah’s oracle against Assyria (Isaiah 10:9-10), alludes to the Assyrian devastation of Kunulua (i.e., Tayinat). The destruction of the Luwian monuments and conversion of the area into an Assyrian religious complex may represent the physical manifestation of this historic event, subsequently memorialized in Isaiah’s oracle.

Background:

TAP is an international project, involving researchers from a dozen countries, and more than 20 universities and research institutes. It operates in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Turkey, and provides research opportunities and training for both graduate and undergraduate students. The 2012 season was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the J.M Kaplan Fund, which provided support for the creation of a conservation program, and the University of Toronto.

 

Contributing Source: University of Toronto

HeritageDaily : Archaeology News : Archaeology Press Releases

- Advertisement -

Stay Updated: Follow us on iOS, Android, Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and our newsletter

spot_img
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan is a multi-award-winning journalist and the Managing Editor at HeritageDaily. His background is in archaeology and computer science, having written over 8,000 articles across several online publications. Mark is a member of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), the World Federation of Science Journalists, and in 2023 was the recipient of the British Citizen Award for Education, the BCA Medal of Honour, and the UK Prime Minister's Points of Light Award.
spot_img
spot_img

Mobile Application

spot_img

Related Articles

Viking-era treasure hoard among several significant discoveries in Täby

Several significant Viking-era discoveries have been made in Täby, Sweden, where archaeologists from Arkeologerna have uncovered a large silver hoard alongside the remains of an extensive farming settlement.

Lost monuments of the “people of the cloud forest” unearthed at Gran Pajatén

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has announced the discovery of more than 100 previously undocumented structures at Gran Pajatén, located within Peru’s Río Abiseo National Park.

Experts explain the cultural origin of the mysterious deformed skull

Construction workers in San Fernando, Argentina, recently uncovered a mysterious skull with an unusual, deformed morphology.

1,600-year-old Byzantine mosaic unveiled for the first time

A large Byzantine-era mosaic discovered in 1990 at the edge of Khirbat Be’er Shema, Israel, has been unveiled to the public for the first time.

Over 1,200 archaeological sites identified in the Bayuda Desert

Archaeologists have identified over 1,200 archaeological sites during an exploration project of Sudan’s Bayuda Desert.

5,000-year-old fire altar discovery at oldest centre of civilisation in the Americas

Archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old fire altar at the Era de Pando archaeological site, revealing new secrets of the oldest centre of civilisation in the Americas.

Inside “Magic Mountain” – The secret Cold War bunker

“Magic Mountain”, otherwise known as the Avionics Building at RAF Alconbury, is a Grade II listed concrete bunker complex in the county of Cambridgeshire, England.

Nationally important WWII military treasures unearthed

Two nationally important WWII military treasures have been unearthed in the State Forests of Poland.