EXCAVATIONS AT BOGHAZ-KEUI IN THE SUMMER OF 



1907.« 



(With 10 plates.) 



By Hugo Winckler and O. Puchstein. 



I. The Discovery or Clay Tablets. 



By Hugo Winckler. 



Since the beginning of the eighties of the last century, in addition 

 to a deeper study of the ancient civilizations of the countries of the 

 Euphrates and of the Nile, a third region has aroused the interest of 

 investigators. In 1888, A. H. Sayce for the first time collected the 

 inscriptions written in an enigmatic style of hieroglyphics which had 

 become known within a decade and which since then have been coming 

 to light in increasing numbers in north Syria and Asia Minor. It 

 had been contended by William Wright (particularly in his book, The 

 Empire of the Hittites, in 1884) that these inscriptions are connected 

 with the people known as the Cheta or Chatti. This fact is now gen- 

 erally recognized, and adapting the name to its biblical form, Hittim, 

 these people are designated as the " Hittites." Although much care- 

 ful study has been given to these inscriptions, yet so far there is no 

 definite knowledge as to their meaning. 



The interest thus aroused has, however, yielded more tangible re- 

 sults in another direction, and a close examination of records in the 

 Egj^Dtian and Assyrian inscriptions concerning the Cheta or Chatti 

 led to an appreciation of the importance of that people in the history 

 of western Asia. In connection with this research the monuments of 

 Asia Minor were studied, Perrot, in particular, exhibiting a far-seeing 

 view, and it was recognized that the question involved was of a civil- 

 ization which, in the main, must have embraced all of Asia Minor. 

 The " Hittites " were considered, primarily, as a people of Asia 

 Minor. It became more and more apparent that they entered into the 



" Abstract, translated by permission, from the German, Vorlaiiflge Nachrichten 

 liber die Ausgrabungen in Bog-haz Koi im Sommer 1907. By Hugo Winckler 

 and O. Puchstein. Mitteiluugen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, 

 No. 35, December, 1907, pp. 1-71. 



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