Hittite royal archive found in Turkey

Archaeologists have uncovered a royal archive of cuneiform tablets in the ancient Hittite city of Samuha, modern-day Sivas, central Turkey. This year’s excavation unearthed 131 cuneiform tablets and fragments which record an epidemic of fever, military logistics, religious practices and events of royal daily life 3,400 years ago. Last year’s excavation uncovered 53 cuneiform tablets and fragments, so this season’s discoveries more than triple the number of texts. It is now the largest, most comprehensive archive of Hittite-language documents found in the 21st century.

The records date to the reign of King Tudhaliya II, and are written in Hittite and Hurrian. One text tells of a fever epidemic that struck the infant daughter of the king. She was still a nursing baby when she became ill. She never recovered from the fever and her health declined precipitously until she passed away. The cuneiform tablet records the funerary ritual that followed.