Side view of the Suppiluliuma statue [Credit: 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."
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