Turkmen Karahöyük (TR)

In 2025 the University of Pavia will start participation in the new international archaeological proejct investigating the mound of Turkmen Karahöyük (TKH). The project of excavations is led by M. Massa for Bilkent University Ankara, in association with the University of Chicago and ISAW-New York University and it started in 2024  after four years of suirvey in the plain of Konya. TKH is the largest mound-site of Türkiye. It hides a supra-regional urban center inhabited between the Early Bronze and the late Hellenistic period. The early discovery of a Luwian Hieroglyphic inscription linking the site with Iron Age Great King Hartapu has already sparked great interest (2,3). Given its size and historical relevance, this megasite is poised to become one of the major cultural heritage sites of Türkiye and the Mediterranean basin.