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Keyword: birddivination

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

    07/25/2025 11:33:43 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 13 replies
    Arkeonews ^ | July 24, 2025 | Oguz Kayra
    Archaeologists working at the ancient Hittite settlement of Kayalıpınar, located in Türkiye's Sivas province, have uncovered a remarkably well-preserved clay tablet containing a bird omen text...The discovery was made as part of an ongoing excavation led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Maner of Koç University's Department of Archaeology and Art History. The site, historically known as Samuha, holds immense historical importance as a major administrative and religious center of the Hittite Empire...The tablet offers insights into Hittite divination practices, particularly the interpretation of bird movements as omens. Known as "bird oracles", these texts were central to Hittite spiritual and state...
  • Hittite Site Yields Dozens of Cuneiform Tablets and Seal Impressions

    09/27/2025 10:06:27 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 28 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | September 22, 2025 | editors / unattributed
    Recent excavations near the Turkish village of Kayalipinar, which has been identified as the ancient Hittite settlement of Samuha, unearthed 56 cuneiform tablets and 22 seal impressions that have provided new insight into Late Bronze Age political structures and religious rituals, according to a Türkiye Today report. Several of the clay tablets contain information concerning bird divination, a practice in which priests were consulted and would make prophecies based on the behavior and flight patterns of birds. The texts record inquiries that were made to these interpreters, called lumushen, regarding the fates of royal heirs such as the crown princes...