Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced that 131 cuneiform tablets and fragments dating to the reign of King 2. Tudhaliya have been unearthed in excavations at Kayalıpınar in Sivas. Ersoy stated that with these finds, reached in the 2026 excavations at ancient Samuha, together with the 53 tablets and fragments recovered in the same area in 2025, the total number has reached 184. With this, the royal archive at Kayalıpınar has become the most comprehensive Hittite archive uncovered in the 21st century.
According to the ministry’s statement, the Hittite and Hurrian documents found in the excavations carried out since 2021 under the leadership of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Maner of Koç University reflect the state administration, military developments, world of belief, and experiences of the royal family from approximately 3 thousand 400 years ago.
Among the texts in the categories of prophecy, divination, letters, rituals, and prayers, a high-fever epidemic that spread from city to city and dragged especially children and babies to their deaths stands out. The health condition, death, and funeral ritual of a breastfed infant princess also appear in the records. In a letter sent to the king by Hittite generals in western Anatolia, soldiers, horses, and war chariots are requested; it is warned that if help does not arrive, the army could be destroyed. The route and observation records of bird diviners, meanwhile, offer previously unknown information about the Hittites’ divination practices.
Background
Hittite is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: in the last 90 days we published a news story featuring this name; that article is dated September 14, 2026.