Rock reliefs from Kuşçu-Boyacı

Coordinates: 38 ° 57 ′ 1 ″  N , 35 ° 29 ′ 15 ″  E

Kuşçu​

Turkey

The rock reliefs of Kuşçu-Boyacı (also rock carvings from Karapınar ) are a group of rock carvings and Luwian hieroglyphics from the time of the late Hittite states . They are assigned to the Kingdom of Tabal and are believed to have been in the 8th century BC. BC originated.

location

The drawings are located on a rock massif near Kuşçu and Boyacı, north of a spring called Karapınar in the Kocasinan district of the Turkish province of Kayseri . The Turkish archaeologist Tahsin Özgüç describes the source as 2.5 kilometers north of the town of Vatan. He states the distance from Erkilet to be ten kilometers.

exploration

In 1989, an engineer working on irrigation canals found rock carvings and reported his discovery to Hamdi Kodan, director of the Kayseri Archaeological Museum . When they visited the pictures together, they discovered that they had been willfully damaged in the meantime. Thereupon rescue measures were initiated by the museum. Members of the Kültepe excavation team later visited the site. This included Tahsin Özgüç, who published the two rock paintings (under the name Rock Carvings at Karapınar ) in 1993. In 2014, the Turkish archaeologists Ali Ozcan and Turgut Yiğit found further rock carvings and an unfinished sculpture of a lion. They interpreted the place as a Hittite sculpture workshop of the 1st millennium BC. Chr.

description

The first relief is on the south side of the rock massif, about 600 meters northeast of the source, on a vertical rock wall in a rock niche. It shows a male figure, facing to the right, 62 centimeters high, 11 centimeters wide at the hips and 18 centimeters at the bottom of the clothing. The drawing is in a very poor condition due to erosion and deliberate destruction; details such as facial features, eyes, nose, beard and fingers are barely recognizable. The person wears a long robe with an ornate hem and shoes with curled up tips. The right hand holds a ruler's staff, the left is raised to the mouth in the form of the EGO symbol ("I") of the Luwian hieroglyphs . A sword 35 centimeters long hangs on the left, rear side of the body, details of the handle are also badly weathered. The hair is tied in a bun at the nape of the neck. Behind the head you can see traces of three characters, of which only the initial Pa- of the name can be read. Özgüç suspects the figure to be a vassal king of the rulers of Tabal. He suggests Panunas, who is mentioned on the Kululu stele.

A second group of figures is located about 500 meters north of the first, on the north side of the same rock. It depicts a hunting scene. On the right there is a male figure fighting a lion. As in the first picture, only the contours are engraved into the rock. The man is dressed in a long robe with a belt and thrusts his spear into the jaws of the attacking animal. The lion's two hind paws and one front paw can be recognized, the tail bends in an arch on the back. The man is 36 centimeters high and 11 centimeters wide at the waist, the lion measures 33 centimeters in height and 24 centimeters in width. To the left of the scene, further, very simply drawn human figures and another lion can be seen, which, according to Özgüç, represent incisions made by shepherds or hunters and have no connection to the scene on the right.

Ozcan and Yiğit discovered other rock workings in the area. Some are just geometric figures, one is the simple outline of a four-inch high and twelve-inch wide human figure with no recognizable limbs, perhaps that of a child. Another shows a male head measuring 12 × 13 centimeters. Nose, ears, eyes and beard are clearly visible, this depiction has no parallel in the well-known Hittite rock art. Finally, in a crevice, a group of hieroglyphs can be seen on a roughly smoothed area measuring 56 × 56 centimeters. The reading only gives a name (La) nanas, with the La sign appearing to be added later.

In the wider area, an unfinished sculpture of a lion lying in the ground was discovered during illegal excavations. At the base it measures 1.35 meters in length, 0.86 meters in height and is 44 centimeters thick. The representation is reminiscent of portal lions such as in Arslantaş or Sevdilli. The rock work and the unfinished condition as well as the location of the lion lead Ozcan and Yiğit to suspect that the area is a quarry and a late Hittite sculpture workshop.

Due to similarities with, for example, the stele of Erkilet, which was found only a little south, the rock art is dated to the 8th century BC. Dated.

literature

• Tahsin Özgüç: Studies on Hittite Relief Vases, Seals, Figurines and Rock-Carvings In: Machteld J. Mellink , Edith Porada , Tahsin Özgüç (ed.): Nimet Özgüçe Armağan (Festschrift for Nimet Özgüç) - Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and its Neighbors Ankara 1993 pp. 493–499 Pl. 87–89 ISBN 975-95308-0-5 .
• Ali Ozcan, Turgut Yiğit: A New Late Hittite Stone Workshop and Artifacts at Kuşçu-Boyacı In: Altorientalische Forschungen 2014 41 (1) pp. 63–79

Web links

• hittitemonuments.com

Remarks

1. ↑ The location descriptions at Özgüç and Özcan / Yiğit are contradictory, the coordinates relate to the eponymous place Kuşçu
2. ↑ Özgüc S. 495, elsewhere, S. 498, he describes it as the northeast also 600 meters of the source.