Discovery in Anatolia a new 3,000-year-old Indo-European language
The excavations at Boğazköy-Hattusha unearthed the Kalašma, enriching the understanding of the cultural and linguistic complexity of the Hittite Kingdom.
In the heart of Anatolia, a group of archaeologists has made an exceptional discovery that sheds light on the cultural and linguistic complexity of the ancient region. During the 2023 excavations at Boğazköy-Hattusha in Turkey, a cuneiform tablet was found containing an unknown Indo-European language: Kalašma. This language, belonging to the Anatolian branch of Indo-European languages, was discovered in a context dating back to the Hittite Empire period, one of the major empires of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East between 1650 and 1200 BCE. The capital Hattuša was a hub of power and culture, and this discovery adds a new piece to understanding this civilization.
The discovered tablet contains an introduction where a officiant performs a ritual in the language of Kalašma, likely located in the area of present-day Bolu or Gerede. This finding is significant as it demonstrates that Anatolia was a melting pot of languages and cultures as early as 2000 BCE. Professor Andreas Schachner, head of the excavations at Hattuša, emphasized the importance of this discovery: "These texts demonstrate that Anatolia was a multilingual and multicultural place."
The tablets, written in Kalašma, contain writings about daily life and celebrations, offering a glimpse into the past. The deciphering of the 174 tablets was a team effort led by Professor Daniel Schwemer of the University of Würzburg and Professor Metin Alparslan of Istanbul University. Schwemer explained that "all texts under the responsibility of the German excavation team have been published." The transcription from cuneiform to the Latin alphabet was carried out by Schwemer, while linguistic experts Elisabet Rieken and Ilya Yakubovitich from the University of Marburg analyzed and deciphered the texts.
The discovery of another language in the archives of Boğazköy-Hattusha is not entirely unexpected. Hittite ritual texts reflect various Anatolian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian linguistic traditions and environments. The cuneiform tablets of Boğazköy-Hattusha include passages in Luwian and Palaic, two other closely related Anatolian Indo-European languages alongside Hittite. Now, the language of Kalašma joins these. Professor Schachner emphasized that "the content of the tablets does not convey very important information, but thanks to these texts, we learn that Anatolia was a multilingual and multicultural region in 2000 BCE." People knew and used at least some of these languages.
The Hittite view of gods from another region is confirmed by these sources, as they included the gods of the conquered territory in their system. In this way, they sought to tie those regions to themselves. This information was written in this language so that they could pay homage to the god brought from Kalašma in a language they could understand. According to Hittite logic, that god would not have understood the Hittite language. The work "Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi" (Cuneiform Texts from Boghazköi), written by Professor Schwemer on the decipherment of the 174 tablets, is now available digitally. The final publication of the texts will take place in the coming days. Starting from November, the Kalašma texts will be published.
source: https://arkeonews.net/3000-year-old-lost-anatolian-language-kalasma-deciphered/
