An Incised Decorated Bone Inlay from the Hittite Empire Period Found at Boğazköy/Hattusa

During new excavations carried out since 2022 on the B¨y¨kkale Northwest Slope, which connects the two poles of the Hittite capital Hattusa—the palace area on B¨y¨kkale and the Lower Town—a unique ivory inlay was found in 2023. The antithetical depiction shows a sphinx and a lion in front of a tree of life. Per numerous iconographic details, this find provides unprecedented first-hand insights into the cultural relations between the states in the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, the Aegean, and Mycenae in the Late Bronze Age. As this piece can be well dated to the late phase of the Hittite Empire, both iconographically and through radiocarbon dating, it provides unexpected evidence for the integration of the Hittite heartland into this network of relationships as well as to the end of the Late Bronze Age international network of states.