Abstract
RESULTS, which at first sight hold out great promise of additions to knowledge of the early stages in the extension of Hittite culture, have been obtained by the Neilson Expedition of the University of Liverpool under Prof. J. Garstang, now engaged in excavating an archæological site near Mersina on the Cilician coast of Asia Minor. A 'double-walled fortress has been discovered, which is thought to mark the site of a frontier post between the rival southern kingdom of Assawa and the allied State of Kizzu-wadna (which seems to have included Tarsus) during the sixteenth or fifteenth century B.C., when the latter stage formed part of the realm of the Hatti, usually identified under the more familiar name of Hittites. According to a report of recent excavations (The Times, February 9), deep soundings on a considerable scale have disclosed no fewer than nineteen occupation-levels, belonging to a culture which, though differing, resembles that of the Hittites of the Anatolian plateau closely enough to be considered akin to it. These levels overlie a civilization which would seem to be linked culturally with predynastic Egypt and Sumer. This indicates the incoming of Hittite culture in the fourth millennium B.C., thus antedating considerably the period usually assigned to the foundation of the Hittite capital on the Anatolian plateau. Further soundings in deeper levels have disclosed an even more considerable antiquity, in which this region was evidently a centre of no little cultural activity. Although the succession of painted pottery wares and stylized patterns reflect relationship with the oldest Mesopotamian styles, there is also evidence of local development lasting over a long period. In the lowest level a rich neolithic stratum has been found, similar to that of Sakje Geuzi, in which the most characteristic features are the use of obsidian, for weapons and tools, instead of flint, and a black pottery which is thin and highly finished.
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Early Hittite Civilization in Cilicia. Nature 141, 322–323 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141322d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141322d0