Kültepe Ören Yeri

Kültepe Archaeological Site is located in Kayseri at the foot of Erciyes Mountain. In the 2nd millennium BC, Kültepe, which was the center of the Kaniş Kingdom, known as the oldest kingdom of Anatolia, and the capital of the Assyrian trade colonies system, stands out for housing the first written tablets in Anatolia and for being the world’s first organized trade center.

TGA

Kültepe is referred to in cuneiform documents by the names Kaniş or Neşa. The name Kültepe, on the other hand, has been known since 1871, when the cuneiform documents described as Cappadocia tablets and dispersed among world museums and antiquities markets first came to light.

Having a strategic importance on trade routes, Kültepe maintained this feature for hundreds of years. The karum at Kültepe became the center of the large trade colonies established by the Assyrians, called “karum,” and this place administered the other karums. The Kültepe karum was discovered in 1925.

TGA

The written documents found in Kültepe shed light on the history of Anatolia and the Near East. The Kültepe tablets, written in Assyrian cuneiform, are letters, promissory notes, seals, and treaty texts, most of them economic in content, showing the political and legal relations of the period. These documents contain important information about the history and geography of the period. The Kültepe tablets were inscribed on the Unesco Memory of the World list in 2015.

In the excavations carried out in the region since 1948, artifacts and finds belonging to the Assyrian, Late Hittite, Hellenic, Roman, Persian, and Tabal periods have been brought to light. These works are exhibited primarily in Kayseri Archaeology Museum, as well as in Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Istanbul Archaeological Museums.

Sources:

Kayseri Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism

muze.gov.tr. “Kültepe Archaeological Site” brochure.

Places to Visit in Kayseri Address: It is possible to reach Kültepe Archaeological Site, which is 24 kilometers from the city center, by getting off at Kültepe Junction from a minibus or bus departing from the eastern terminal in the direction of Sivas (Bünyan, Sarıoğlan, Gemerek), followed by a 2 kilometer walk.