This paper reviews 50 years of obsidian studies at Neolithic Çatalhöyük in the Konya plain, central Anatolia. A number of key issues are addressed: (1) the source of the site's raw materials, the means and forms by which the obsidian was introduced to the site and the role of Çatalhöyük in the supra-regional dissemination of these raw materials; (2) the alleged gender associations of certain obsidian goods in the burial record and beyond; (3) a more general consideration of the social significance of the circulation and consumption of obsidian at the site, including the phenomena of hoarding and gifting, plus the important role of projectiles in the creation of social identities and various forms of ritual behaviour, not least the termination of the life of a building/individual; (4) the technotypological and raw material variability through time; (5) the use of obsidian in daily practice and craft-working.

The wooden writing boards frequently mentioned in Hittite texts have given rise to much debate, mostly regarding the scale on which they were used and the type of script that was written on them (cuneiform or hieroglyphs). In this paper, the evidence for the use of wooden writing boards in Hittite Anatolia will be (re-)evaluated. It will be argued that they were used for private and economic documents, and that they were written on in Anatolian hieroglyphs. Important indications of this are the distinct terms consistently used in connection with writing on wood, which point to a separate scribal tradition. Further, the form and nature of the hieroglyphic script itself and the fact that it survived after the fall of the Hittite empire confirm that the script must have been widely employed. It is thus proposed that two parallel scribal traditions existed in Hittite Anatolia: a (lost) hieroglyphic tradition on wooden writing boards used for private and daily economic records, and a Hittite cuneiform tradition reserved for palace administration.

The location of the Temple of the Storm-God of Aleppo, one of the most famous cult-centres of antiquity, has long been a matter of speculation, but was finally revealed by excavations on Aleppo citadel begun in 1996. These have gradually uncovered the central cult-room of the temple with a rich inventory of sculptures datable to several phases of the construction. In 2003 came the dramatic exposure of a substantial Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription recording a dedication to the Storm-God by a ruler, Taita King of Palistin, incised alongside his own image standing in an attitude of reverence before the deity. This was followed in 2004–2005 by the discovery of a further, but broken, inscription on portal figures of the entrance, attributable to the same ruler. These inscriptions are datable by their palaeography approximately to the 11th century BC, a period previously regarded as a dark age lacking written records. They suggest the existence of a large and powerful kingdom in an area where the increasingly known archaeology shows an influx of people of Aegean connections bringing with them the distinctive Mycenaean IIIC pottery. A combination of the archaeological data and the evidence of the inscriptions begins to offer an outline history for this little-known age. This paper presents the first full publication of the inscriptions together with some comments on their background and implications.

The article publishes an unprovenanced fragment of a stele housed in the Haluk Perk Museum in Istanbul. Palaeography and manner of inscription suggest an origin in the eighth century BC in the region known to the Neo-Assyrians as Tabal. The new text is largely incomprehensible due to its fragmentary state, as well as the fact that it contains otherwise unattested words and signs. However, in one case, a rare combination of signs persuades us to revise the reading of part of another recently published hieroglyphic document from the same period and area. The Istanbul text appears to contain a historical narrative relating to a warlike encounter. The article presents the text in hand-copy, photo, transliteration and translation, as well as supplying a detailed philological commentary.

This report presents the main results of research activities carried out at Çaltılar Höyük, northern Lycia, southwest Turkey, between 2008 and 2010. During this period, an international team undertook topographic, archaeological and geophysical surveys, together with artefact studies and analyses, aimed at determining the nature and extent of occupation at the site, and offering new data about the settlement history and material culture of this region in pre-Classical times. The results of this work suggest that the site was occupied from at least the fourth millennium (Late Chalcolithic) to the middle of the sixth century BC, a date that coincides with the Persian conquest of Lycia, with only scant evidence of use/occupation after this phase. In addition, the nature of our finds suggests that the site, despite its location in the summer pastures (yayla) and at a considerable altitude (1,250m), was well-connected to other Anatolian and Aegean regions, and probably served as more than just a minor seasonal agro-pastoral settlement, particularly during its Early Bronze Age and Late Iron Age periods of occupation. The evidence relevant to the second millennium BC is too limited at present to allow further interpretation about the nature of occupation at the site, but is significant per se, especially in view of the scanty archaeological remains of this period in the region, and despite the numerous references to the Lukka people and settlements available in documentary sources.

In the mid first century BC, a dynast named Tarcondimotus asserted his authority over parts of Smooth Cilicia. Tarcondimotus' successful accommodation of the differing expectations of Roman magistrates, local Greeks and Cilicians was connected to his patronage of the Greek polis of Hierapolis-Castabala. Through such patronage, he collaborated with municipal elites to interweave Greek and local traditions into the city's culture and cult in ways that produced innovative expressions of civic Hellenism. Likewise, while Hierapolis-Castabala was under Tarcondimotus' protection, its cult to the goddess Perasia, a local manifestation of the ancient Hittite deity Kubaba, embodied these unique cultural expressions. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Perasia retained her traditional name and her cult enjoyed distinctively local rites in which her priestesses walked upon fiery coals. Such unique qualities prevented Greeks and Romans during the centuries following Tarcondimotus' rule from associating her with any single goddess worshipped in Greece or Italy. In sum, by patronising Hierapolis-Castabala, Tarcondimotus presented himself as the defender of Greek civic life and the Hierapolitai were able to persist in their unique expressions of Greek civic performance and cult in the turbulent transitional period between Seleucid and Roman rule.

Between 1982 and 1996 a group of rock-cut votive reliefs was discovered during archaeological survey in Pisidia under the direction of Stephen Mitchell and the sponsorship of the British Institute (of Archaeology) at Ankara. The types represented include a horseman deity, perhaps Kakasbos, the Dioscuri with ‘goddess’ and the moon-god Men. The reliefs are discussed according to their cults and iconography, and their contribution to art and religion both locally and beyond. As a religious phenomenon, they are further considered in relation to both regional traditions and empire-wide practices. It is suggested that reliefs of this type, that are associated with the protection of mortals, should also be viewed as part of the history of devotional art and added to discussions of rock art that extend beyond the Greek and Roman worlds. A detailed catalogue of the reliefs, organised by iconographic type, concludes the article.

This article presents an inscribed statue base discovered at Oinoanda by Professor Martin Ferguson Smith in 2002. The new inscription is placed in its historical context, and the commentary traces the implications for our understanding of Roman army recruitment, the role of the civic élite in responding to the demands of the imperial government and the practice of heroisation in the competition for honour among the notables who were also the city's victorious athletes.