Bogazköy Archive

The Treaty of Kadesh tablet

The Bogazkoy archives are a collection of texts found on the site of the capital of the Hittite state, the city of Hattusas (now Bogazkoy in Turkey). During the excavations, archaeologists discovered over 14 thousand cuneiform texts on clay tablets of the 2nd millennium BC. e.. This is one of the oldest state (royal) archives; it gives the most complete ideas about the Hittite kingdom and its inhabitants.

The discovery of the Bogazkoy Archives occurred in 1906, when the German Oriental Society sent a special archaeological expedition led by Hugo Winckler to Bogazkoy. Prior to this, G. Winkler published a preliminary report on his excavations in 1907. Prior to this, the most significant from the point of view of Hittitology was the discovery in 1891 of the rich Tell el-Amarna archives, among cuneiform tablets of which there was also a correspondence of the Hittite rulers (see Amarna letters).