Archaeologists Discover Lost Ancient Language on Mysterious Ritual Tablet

Archaeologists have discovered an unknown Indo-European language inscribed on a cultic ritual tablet that was excavated earlier this year from the ruins of a metropolis that flourished in Turkey more than 3,000 years ago.

The previously unknown language was identified on a tablet used for ritual purposes at a site known as Boğazköy-Hattusha, which served as capital of the influential Hittite Empire that flourished from 1650 to 1200 BCE. The ancient city was home to about 50,000 people at its peak, before it was destroyed along with the broader Hittite state by a mysterious catastrophe called the Bronze Age collapse that wiped out many civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea.

Archeologists have found nearly 30,000 clay tablets etched with cuneiform script, which is the earliest known writing system, since they began excavating the expansive ruins of Boğazköy-Hattusha nearly 100 years ago. Most of the texts are written in the Hittite tongue, though these peoples also took pains to preserve other languages on these tablets, such as Luwian, Palaic, and Hattic.

Now, researchers led by Andreas Schachner, a professor in the Istanbul department of the German Archaeological Institute, report the discovery of a short recitation in an entirely new language, which was written on a tablet unearthed during an expedition at Boğazköy-Hattusha this year. The Hittites who inscribed this tablet said the language belonged to the people of Kalašma, a region that fell within their empire and was likely located around the modern Turkish province of Bolu.

The enigmatic recitation has not yet been deciphered, though Schachner’s team has confirmed that the text belongs to a wider group of Anatolian-Indo-European languages. And while the researchers were delighted to find the novel inscription, they noted that it was not entirely unexpected because the Hitties took pains to preserve many languages.

“The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages,” said Daniel Schwemer, head of the Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg, in a statement.

The researchers plan to continue trying to unlock the meaning of the recitation, while also continuing excavations at Boğazköy-Hattusha, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

These efforts could reveal new insights about the reign of the Hittites, an Anatolian people that dominated much of what is now Turkey in the second millennium BCE. This lost civilization, which is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, left behind a vast trove of monumental architecture, urban infrastructure, and artifacts. 

While the Hittites were a major power in this region for several centuries, their empire had begun to decline even before it fell victim to the Bronze Age collapse around the 12th century BCE. Researchers believe this period of turmoil was brought on by a disastrous confluence of events including climate change, famine, disease, and mass violence. 

While these ancient peoples made an immense archaeological and cultural footprints, the discovery of the new language at Boğazköy-Hattusha is a reminder of how much left there is to learn about their world.