EXCAVATIONS AT BOGHAZ-KEUI WINCKLER AND PUCHSTEIN. 691 



removed by our assumption of an extensive immigration and con- 

 quest. The designation of southern Palestine as '' Charu " in the 

 Egyptian accounts would only show that just then (in the time of 

 Sety I), or shortly before, the Charu conquest took place, which ex- 

 tended the name Charu to the southern borders. 



But a difficulty arises when a detailed separation of the several 

 strata of the population is attempted. In the first place there are 

 the two languages — the " Mitani '' and the new " Hittite." They do 

 not seem to be related, but whether they belong to different families 

 of languages must for the present remain undecided. The '' Hittite," 

 the former "Arsawa," has been claimed for the Indo-European family 

 of languages (compare Knudzon, Die Zwei Arsawa Briefe). It is 

 rather premature, however, to pass judgment on this question before 

 the new documents have been subjected to a closer study. There can 

 be no longer any doubt that we should assume the existence here of 

 an Indo-European population. As guardians of the treaties between 

 Chatti and Mitani (Mattiuaza) the gods of both countries are in- 

 voked. These are, in the first place, the divinities established of old, 

 that go back to the earlier periods of purely Babylonian influence, 

 for they bear pure Babylonian names. Then comes the Teshub-circle, 

 evidently the properly constituted national deities of both countries 

 but likewise belonging to an older stratum. In the midst of these 

 names we suddenly find, in the Mitani portion, two names hardly to be 

 expected in this connection: 



1. ilani-mi-it-ra-ash-shi-il u-ru-w-na-ash-slii-el (variant: a-ru-na-ash-shl-il). 



2. ilu (!) in-dar ilani na-asha-a[t-ti-ia-a]n-na (variant: in-da-ra na- 



sh [a ] -at-ti-ia-an-na ) . 



That is, Mithra, Varuna — whose identity can not be doubted, 

 though the rendering of his name offers some difficulty — Indra, and 

 a fourth divinity, who from the context must belong to the same 

 group. 



It is impossible here to enlarge upon the significance of this fact 

 as evidence of the existence of an Indo-European people in western 

 Asia. Suffice it here to answer briefly the question : To which part 

 of the population do these divinities belong? The god of Mitani, as 

 also of Chatti, is Teshub; he w^ould thus represent the older layer. 

 The layer represented by the Indo-European divinities must have 

 been the dominant and aristocratic one, since its gods are invoked by 

 name. This points to the Charri, who must therefore have been 

 Aryans. 



Since our Hittite language is Indo-European, we shall further 

 assume that the same population also overran the Chatti land, so that 

 for Chatti, as well as for Mesopotamia and Syria-Palestine, two strata 

 must be assumed, the earlier Teshub-people and the younger Charri. 

 With this assumption accords the use of the Hittite langiuige in Pales- 

 tine and the character of proper names, such as Mattiuaza, or that 



