Talk begins at 7:18 Q&A begins at 1:00:00

Gosh this is so exciting! As someone who used to study this stuff, when that stone with the Luwian inscription popped up, I totally geeked out. Although the first impression I got from the two very distinct styles was that the bulky style at the beginning looked like an overwrite of whatever had been there before. Concluding that it simply was not completed is interesting, and brings up questions of its own. But it certainly is a very awkward transition, isn't it? I nearly fainted when the name "Mursili" was transcribed. We already knew that the Neo-Hittite states emerged from the junior lines of Empire period rulers, but that didn't make this continuation - occurring several centuries after the collapse of the empire - any less exciting! It's, like, super exciting! Given that the name Mursili seems to have found its way even into a Classical Greek source in the west, it's amazing how popular that name seems to have been. And then to have a "Mursili" mentioned in the same inscription as the "Muska"... Woooow!! That's so exciting! I also quite enjoyed your employment of landscape archaeology, and tracing an ancient road through the landscape. I am a fan of Britain's "Time Team" show, where they can follow the ancient roads so easily to reconstruct what was going on in ancient time periods. They're landscape archaeologist was frequently more correct than their geophys team! Although the road you highlighted here doesn't seem to correspond to modern field boundaries or roads at all. Your analysis of the Konya plain was really interesting and the sort of stuff I'd love to see more of. I first encountered that sort of analysis with Mesoamerican regions, and had always wished to see it done in the Near East as well. The history of the Lower Land is something that always vaguely raised my curiosity. It became so deeply bound to the original Hittite homeland, and seems to have been such an important breadbasket for the kingdom, that it was probably quite boringly placid during the Hittite period, but that in itself would be interesting to know. (Admittedly, though, I desperately would love to see some serious archaeology done in the western lands. And I think that up through at least the Middle Kingdom, Samuha was extremely important, given how it seemed to serve as an alternative capital of choice whenever things went to the dogs in Hattusa.) I'm still neutral on the location of Tarhuntassa. Nothing you said was unreasonable, but I think we still lack information. Damn Hartapu for not naming his kingdom!

I had to laugh... Farmer comes up, says "I found this rock with carvings on it. You want to look at it?" Archeologist, feigning disinterest: "Oh, okay, if I must." But really on the inside going "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!"

Exciting work, thank you for posting

Very interesting lecture!

""Hardtopoo" best ancient name ever

That triangle symbol with the curly line looks like it derives from the middle-eastern sacred palm design that also gave rise to the Aeolic Ionic pillar and capital. This would signify The Great King as depicted between two columns representing the polity or state.

Perhaps the inscription stone cracked while being worked? I have carved soapstone and it is soft, you have to be careful with it. I would assume mudstone being sedimentary and soft would also have a tendency to fall apart. I have not worked with a metre-long piece but I would think that would be more prone to disaster. Perhaps the crudeness of the relief is simply because the sculptor had only just done the rough first cuts, they seem bigger than the incised glyphs. The last line of glyphs stops at a suspiciously slanted part of the crack. Did you get photos of the broken edge as well as the carved sides? Another possibility is that this was a sketchpad done in a soft stone before the sculptor started the basalt version. Obviously you want to make sure the lettering fits. You give the source of basalt as very close to the capital, why would they not use basalt for the final version? Perhaps the Kartappu version was a spelling mistake. We all know what it is like sending something to a printer. Hopefully someone proofread the copy before the final version was carved.

This is probably the location of Isauropolis. SOV sentence structure and the use of accusative case in “land of Mushki” are also very interesting.

Awesome

Спасибо

Re: Permits etc. This kind of forum has only upside for all involved. Prestigious and public at the same time. Four thousand views may not sound like a lot but that certainly is a lot more then number in the auditorium. In recent times political/cultural discussions made think about two things. The international spread of the English language and informal American soft power in general. I am of the opinion the rest of this century will see the ascendancy of India, the status quo stability in China (I hope) and the overall hegemony of usa. I sometimes attach this old presentation to illustrate the matter: Golden Age 2050 THE IRON LAW OF BAD DEMOGRAPHICS. 1) Only India and USA have adequate demographics for 2050. (see charts a-d below) USA is one of the few places that can incorporate immigration - if we are not swamped out first as was Rome. Further, we will not soon lose the higher education system where every genius wants to go. In addition, we do not need to grow new twenty year old workers and consumers. We have a problem keeping them out. 2) China is a status quo power because of demographics and 800 million people who do not live in either a tier one or tier two city. (see chart d below) 3) USA now has more hydrocarbons than god. Both energy (natural gas) and industrial feed stocks (natural gas) are both plentiful and cheap. Natural gas is a byproduct of oil fracking and will continue to be flared until pipes are installed. Peter Ziehan on hydrocarbons and demographics (1 hr) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eK6ibJxqt620gas.html a) Industrial world fertility rate bar graph (2.1 is replacement). familyinequality.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/globaltfrs.jpg b) Japan, China USA population pyramids static.businessinsider.com/image/53b2927e6bb3f7a659603d6d/image.jpg?_ga=2.184282478.936777095.1563812465-1560154508.1563812465 c) India population pyramid. www.populationpyramid.net/india/2017/ d) China population by city tier. (slow load?) sampi.co/chinas-city-tier-system/

Such a cool lecture, nice to see people chasing understudied regions/periods/cultures.

Provoking!

Anadolu sen ne müthiş bir yersin arkeolojik kazı yapıldığında tarihin akışını ve yazılışını tekrardan değiştiren bir ülkesin toprağın altını neresini kazsan bir gizemli uygarlık bilmediğimiz bir yeni medeniyet çıkıyor kim bilir daha neler görücez...

Mr. Massa, the reason that the capital has been set on a 2500m high mountain is logical and makes more sense if you would understand the meaning of the mountains for the Hittite/Kurds.

The Beaker Bell Culture/ Germanians

Hardtopoo

I don’t know why you find impediment to study the archaeological areas. If I were an archarlogist I would tell the Turkish government to ‘shove it’

Great king Hard-to-poo

Did "Islamic" conquests make archeology more difficult for us today? Seems kind of like it. Not that Christians didn't destroy and alter history either. But damn.

Great king Hard ta poo!

I wonder why he was so constipated? Goats milk I bet . Sorry I couldn't resist

An introduction that is too long. It is like reading a dictionary all at once and trying to remember the meaning of all the words at once.

Germanians

3:30 Hardly encouraging.

Central Anatolia? Learn georaphy. That is not Anatolia.

major earthquake there 1/25/20 yesterday, at this time of watching. New "Iron Age" is code for the fourth beast in the Book of Daniel; we have arrived. Also, hartapu, based on Hebrew is har Tapu, and saying 'mount hartapu' is therefore redundant. Contemporary with biblical Ahab, thru Hezekiah and Assyrian king Shalmaneser.

You have nothing to describe the Hittite population only rulers. It is not like the Greek civilization where philosophers, etc. left written details upon detailed. So stop wasting your time and boring listeners. Sorry to be so blunt. I am 80 years old and have my opinionated opinions.