Figurine from Doğantepe
The figurine of Doğantepe (also figurine or statuette of Amasya ) is a Hittite bronze sculpture from the second millennium BC. It is in the Archaeological Museum of Amasya exhibited. Presumably she represents the Hittite weather god .
Find
The figure was found before 1961 in the southwest of the village of Doğantepe in the central district of the Turkish province of Amasya , about 27 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital, together with a seal by a farmer while excavating the earth and sold to an antique dealer in Amasya. When the district authority found out about this and notified the provincial administration, they found the dealer who had sent the finds to Istanbul. The parts were fetched back and handed over to the responsible authorities and taken to the library of Bayezid Külliyesi , from where they finally got to the Archaeological Museum. The first scientific description of the find was provided in 1961 by the Turkish Hittite scientist Sedat Alp . Traces of a larger settlement were also found in Doğantepe, including ceramics from the Early Bronze Age through the Middle and Late Iron Age to the Hellenistic and Byzantine periods .
description
The statuette, which Alp describes as being made by one of the greatest artists of his time , has a preserved height of 21.5 centimeters and weighs 1340 grams. Arms and legs are missing, the total height - assuming that the legs take up at least a third of the body - is estimated at around 34 centimeters. This would make it the largest known statuette in human form from the Hittite Empire. The state of preservation is good, only a few damage can be seen, which may have resulted from the illegal excavation. Arms and legs are completely missing, and peg holes have been drilled in the shoulders and under the figure where the limbs were attached. These can also have consisted of other material. Such figurines were cast in a mold, mortises and drill holes for fastening were carefully drilled afterwards. According to Maurits Nanning Van Loon, it can be seen from the slits on the side that the figure was covered with silver or gold.
The sitter is beardless and does not wear a braid or any other falling hair. The facial features, nose and mouth, are finely modeled, eyes made of precious metal or gemstone sat in the deep eye sockets, a dimple can be seen at the tip of the chin. The ears are relatively large, as is often the case with Hittite works. He wears a pointed cap without horns on his head. The body is dressed in a shirt and an apron or skirt, both of which are encircled by a belt at the waist. It may also be a cohesive piece, a tunic, but this cannot be determined by the belt. The shirt is high-necked at the front and has a V-neck at the back. The belt has a bead-like hem at the top and bottom. It is certainly held together by a buckle, which, however, is not visible due to a band hanging down in the middle to the skirt hem. The skirt itself is very finely worked. A herringbone pattern can be seen between horizontal double lines. The lower hem has a zigzag pattern. It is noticeable that the number of horizontal pattern bands in the left and right parts as well as from front to back do not match. Either the apron under the hanging ribbon was slit like it was on the sides, or the artist was negligent. By comparing it with two smaller but very similar bronze figures from Ladakia and Boğazköy ( Ḫattuša ) it can be assumed that the right arm was raised to about chest height and was holding a device, a battle ax or a bundle of lightning. The left arm is lost in all comparable figures. Also through this comparison, also with large sculptures such as the god at the so-called King's Gate of Ḫattuša, it is generally assumed that the sitter is the weather god Teššup , perhaps also his son Šarruma . The similarities also give a rough date between 1400 and 1200 BC. BC and thus in the last centuries of the Hittite empire.
literature
- Sedat Alp: A Hittite bronze statuette and other finds from Zara near Amasya In: Anatolia IV (1961–62) pp. 217–243.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Şevket Dönmez: Amasya Province in the Iron Age In: Anatolian Iron Ages 5. Proceedings of the Fifth Anatolian Iran Ages Colloquium held at Van 6-10 August 2001 British Institute at Ankara p. 67.
- ↑ Sedat Alp: A Hittite bronze statuette and other finds from Zara near Amasya In: Anatolia IV (1961–62) p. 226
- ↑ Maurits Nanning Van Loon: Anatolia in the Second Millennium BC Brill 1985 p. 34