The newly-discovered language, Kalasma, belongs to the Indo-European family. It was discovered thanks to a cuneiform text inscribed on a clay tablet from Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, located in central Anatolia, Turkey.
A cuneiform tablet with a previously unknown Indo-European language was found at the archaeological site at the foot of Ambarlikaya in Hattusa, Turkey. Image credit: Andreas Schachner / Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.
The Hittite Kingdom and subsequently Empire, based in central Anatolia, Turkey, with its capital at Hattusa, is recognized from both rich archaeological remains and textual sources as one of the major Old World powers of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East between 1650 and 1200 BCE.
At its apex, the Hittites maintained control over central, southern and southeastern Anatolia, the northern Levant and northern Syria, with almost all of Anatolia being under the Hittite sphere of influence.
During this time, the Hittite Empire vied with the Egyptians for sociopolitical dominance in the Near East, a struggle that culminated in the largest battle of the era at Kadesh in Syria in the early 13th century BCE.
Around or shortly after 1200 BCE, the Hittite Empire and central administrative system collapsed in a great realignment that reverberated around the Near East.
The reign of the last-known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II, began around 1207 BCE and included claimed victories against several intra-Anatolian rivals and Alashiya (Cyprus) in sea and land battles, but no further Hittite rulers were recorded subsequently.
An inscription of the Egyptian ruler Ramesses III — dated to 1188 or 1177 BCE — lists the Hittites among those swept away by the ‘Sea Peoples’ before they attacked Egypt.
The Hittite capital, Hattusa, was established by Hattusili I, a king of the Hittite Old Kingdom, in 1650 BCE.
Also known as Hattusha, Hattusas or Hattush, the ancient city is situated on the north-central Anatolian plateau, approximately 210 km east of Ankara, Turkey.
It was rediscovered during the late 19th century CE, and excavations — undertaken by archaeologists from the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut — began in the 1930s.
“The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986,” said Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg’s Professor Daniel Schwemer and his colleagues.
“Almost 30,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing have been found there so far.”
“These tablets, which were included in the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage in 2001, provide rich information about the history, society, economy and religious traditions of the Hittites and their neighbors.”
“Most of the texts are written in Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language and the dominant language at the site.”
“The discovery of another language in the Hattusa archives is not entirely unexpected,” Professor Schwemer said.
“The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages.”
“Such ritual texts, written by scribes of the Hittite king reflect various Anatolian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian traditions and linguistic milieus.”
“The rituals provide valuable glimpses into the little known linguistic landscapes of Late Bronze Age Anatolia, where not just Hittite was spoken.”
“Thus, cuneiform texts from Hattusa include passages in Luwian and Palaic, two other Anatolian Indo-European languages closely related to Hittite, as well as Hattic, a non-Indo-European language.”
The scholars believe the newly-discovered language was spoken by a people who lived in the land of Kalasma, a region on the north-western edge of the Hittite heartland, probably in the modern Turkish province of Bolu.
“The Kalasmaic text is as yet largely incomprehensible,” said Philipps-Universität Marburg’s Professor Elisabeth Rieken.
“It belongs to the family of Anatolian Indo-European languages.”
“Despite its geographic proximity to the area where Palaic was spoken, the text seems to share more features with Luwian.”
“How closely the language of Kalasma is related to the other Luwian dialects of Late Bronze Age Anatolia will be the subject of further investigation.”
