Well-Preserved Hittite "Bird Omen Text" Discovered at Kayalipınar-Samuha, a Key Religious Hub of the Ancient Empire

Well-Preserved Hittite "Bird Omen Text" Discovered at Kayalıpınar-Samuha.
Credit: Serhat Zafer - AA

Another nice twofer.

One of *those* topics.

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They say it’s the word.

On a related note, I have yet to find a reliable reader of bird entrails for omens. I’m beginning to think they don’t exist anymore. A lost art.

Are we able to read ancient Hittite? The article didn’t say if they were able to decipher the text, which would be interesting to know.

The 'Hittite' and 'Hittites' keywords (minus five spurious topics), sorted:

A Hittite Version of the Trojan War?! [1:03:07] [07/13/2025]
3,500-Year-Old Hittite Linen Fabric Exhibited for the First Time [03/10/2025]
Ancient DNA Study Sheds New Light on History of Indo-European Languages [02/08/2025]
Where Did the Iron Age Begin? [02/06/2025]
'Whoever Breaks This Will Die': Scientists Reportedly Uncover Chilling Ancient Artifact [07/09/2024]
Does King Priam of Troy Appear in Hittite Records? [06/21/2024]
A 3,300-year-old tablet found at Büklükale from Hittite Empire describes catastrophic invasion of four cities [03/13/2024]
New Indo-European language discovered during excavation in Turkey [09/22/2023]
Archaeologists Found Seal Impressions That Could Change Hittite History in Kayalipinar [09/15/2023]
3350 years old palace structure and grain jars found in Aydin, Türkiye [08/17/2023]
New research suggests drought accelerated empire collapse (Hittite) [02/09/2023]
Latest find in Turkey's Ayasuluk Hill links Hittites to Ephesus [07/09/2022]
3,250-year-old seal belonging to Hittite prince discovered in southern Turkey [11/23/2021]
3,500-year-old summer residence of Hittite kings to host visitors [08/15/2021]
Mysterious 3,200-year-old stone carvings in Turkey finally revealed as ancient Hittite calendar and map of the cosmos [06/17/2021]
Ancient Hittite cuneiform scripts will soon be accessible online [10/18/2020]
Joseph and The Exodus [02/17/2019]
Traces of Iron Age wars found on double-skin wall [09/23/2018]
Why Vessey Turned Two Swedes Into Hittites [08/26/2016]
The Hittite capital hosts ambassadors [07/11/2016]
The Last Days of Hattusa [06/27/2016]
Monastery new discovery in underground city in Cappadocia [06/26/2016]
Devastating 'World War ZERO' destroyed ancient civilisations and plunged Europe into a dark age [05/15/2016]
World War Zero brought down mystery civilisation of 'sea people' [05/13/2016]
Early Written Signs [02/14/2016]
Traces of Vikings found at Bathonea archaeological excavation in Istanbul [12/08/2015]
Archaeologists discover secret tunnel in ancient Hittite castle [10/21/2015]
Archaeological team prepares 4,000-year-old Hittite meals [09/14/2015]
Archaeologists discover 2,800-year-old 'burial jars' in Turkey... but what lies inside? [09/07/2015]
Symbols of Hittite goddess of sexuality found on 4,000-year-old tablet discovered in central Turkey [08/15/2015]
Archaeologists Find Assyrian Tablets in Turkey, Some About Women's Rights [07/19/2015]
European languages linked to migration from the east [02/13/2015]
Pollen Study Points to Drought as Culprit in Bronze Age Mystery (Global Warming in Ancient Times) [10/26/2013]
Syrian Conflict Imperils Historical Treasures [08/18/2012]
Lost city found in Turkey: It is older than Troy [09/27/2011]
Road built over 3000-year-old tumulus in eastern Turkey [07/27/2010]
University of Toronto archaeologists find...cuneiform tablets in 2,700-year old Turkish temple [08/10/2009]
Phaistos Disk: Greek or Luwian? [06/25/2009]
Hittites' holy city Nerik to emerge [09/05/2008]
Sick Rams Used As Ancient Bioweapons [11/29/2007]
Messages from the Dead [ Qatna's royal palace and cuneiform archive ] [02/01/2007]
French Explorer's Bad Luck In Syria Avenged At Last (Hittites) [10/17/2006]
Ancient Hittite Dam Inaugurated After 32 Centuries [09/20/2006]
Hittite graves, artifacts unearthed in Adana [06/14/2006]
Hittite winds blow in Istanbul [05/19/2006]
In Search of the Real Troy [02/20/2005]
First Toilet And Sewer System Of Prehistoric Period Found In Van [08/24/2004]
Amazon Warrior Women [08/04/2004]
Smenkhkhare, the Hittite Pharaoh [07/30/2004]
History Channel to air Ancient Battles [Persians-Greeks-Romans - starts 7/23] [07/20/2004]
A Biological Dig for the Roots of Language [03/18/2004]
Unearthed: the humble origins of world diplomacy (A Preserved Library from 1340BC discovered!) [01/19/2003]
Unearthed: The Humble Origins Of World Diplomacy (Hittites) [01/18/2003]
Smallpox: The Triumph over the Minister of Death [12/05/2002]
Key To An Ancient Tongue [07/23/2002]
Recent Finds Prove That Homer's Stories Were More Than Myth [02/24/2002]
Archaeologists Rewrite Timeline Of Bronze And Iron Ages, Alphabet [12/24/2001]

Half the battle is knowing where the entrails are — right between the m-trails and the o-trails.

😁

Yup, for a long while. Emil Forrer was a Swiss scholar who worked on the Hattusas archive. The archive consisted of three groups — two large groups which each contained a different unknown language, the other group being ‘other’.

While reading a text (cuneiform can always be pronounced, which is why it was adapted to so many ancient languages, indeed, used for over 3000 years, or about the length of time we’ve used alphabetic script, with which it overlapped) he noticed some word structures (not sure what they were, have to look that up; but something like suffixes) that were very much like German.

One of the two major languages in the archive proved to be an extinct Indo-European tongue. The other isn’t.

She was a real charmer, Bathsheba,
Her pet was a darling amoeba.
This queer gob of jelly
Would lie on her belly
And blissfully murmur, “Ich liebe.”

Wasn’t she married to Uriah Heep? Then something about Dave or Sol.

😎

The bird’s the word.

A mysterious intergalactic object could potentially be a “hostile” alien spacecraft that’s slated to attack our planet in November, according to a controversial new study by a small group of scientists.

“The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity,” the researchers wrote in the inflammatory paper, which was published July 16 to the preprint server arXiv, South West News Service reported.
And actual space aliens are walking amongst us, preparing for the conquest and subjugation of the human race this fall?
No one is concerned about this? Gosh!

Hey, I'm lookin' forward to it.

"Roswell was a smoke screen, we've had a half-a-dozen better salvage operations".