Luwian Studies
{{Infobox institute
| name = Luwian Studies
| established = 2014
| mission = Archaeological research
| president = Eberhard Zangger
| location = Zurich, Switzerland
| website = https://luwianstudies.org/
}}
Luwian Studies is an independent, private, non-profit foundation based in Zürich, Switzerland. Its sole purpose is to promote the study of cultures of the second millennium BC in western Asia Minor. The foundation encourages and supports archaeological, linguistic and natural scientific investigations to complete the understanding of Middle and Late Bronze Age Mediterranean cultures.{{Cite web|url=https://luwianstudies.org/goals/|title=Goals of the foundation|website=Luwian Studies}} Western Anatolia was, at that point in time, home to groups of people who spoke Luwian, an Indo-European language.
Board
The Foundation is governed by its Board, which currently includes Matthias Örtle, Ivo Hajnal, Jorrit Kelder, [https://www.getty.edu/author/spier-jeffrey/ Jeffrey Spier] and Eberhard Zangger. It is registered with the Handelsregisterambt of the Canton Zürich, under entry number CHE-364.060.070.{{Cite web|url=https://zh.chregister.ch/cr-portal/auszug/auszug.xhtml?uid=CHE-364.060.070|title=Stiftung Luwian Studies|first=DV Bern|last=AG|website=Commercial register of canton Zurich}}
Research Topic
The term Luwian denotes a language and a hieroglyphic script which were commonly used in much of Asia Minor throughout the entire 2nd millennium BC. In the context of Luwian Studies, Luwian, however, is a toponym encompassing peoples of different ethnicity and languages.{{Citation |title=The Luwians of Western Anatolia: Their Neighbours and Predecessors |last=Woudhuizen |first=Fred |year=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.}} It is thus an abstract umbrella term for the states and petty kingdoms in western Asia Minor who for most of the time can neither be attributed to the adjacent Hittite civilization in the east, nor to the Mycenaean culture in the west.{{cite journal |last1=Polański |first1=Tomasz |title=Between Mycenae and Hattushas: The Emergence of the Luvian Civilisation |journal=Folia Orientalia |date=2017 |volume=54 |pages=346–351}}{{cite journal |last1=Pullen |first1=Daniel |title=Review of The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis Legend; Ein neuer Kampf um Troia: Archäologie in der Krise, Eberhard Zangger |journal=Journal of Field Archaeology |date=1994 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=522–525 |doi=10.2307/530109 |jstor=530109 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/530109 |access-date=28 June 2022|url-access=subscription }} The most prominent political states in the region were Arzawa/Mira, Masa, Seha, Hapalla, Wilusa, Lukka etc. The names of these states frequently occur in documents found at Hattusa, when Hittite kings referred to their neighbours in the west.
The idea that a civilization in its own right may have existed during the 2nd millennium BC in western Asia Minor goes back one hundred years. In 1920, the Swiss Assyriologist Emil Forrer recognized the Luwian language in the documents found during the first years of excavation at Hattusa. He concluded that “the Luwians were a far greater people than the Hittites”.{{cite book |last1=Oberheid |first1=Robert |title=Emil O. Forrer und die Anfänge der Hethitologie |date=2007 |publisher=De Gruyter |page=102 |doi=10.1515/9783110194340 |isbn=9783110194340 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110194340/html?lang=en |access-date=28 June 2022 |language=German}} Similar ideas sprung up in the writing of Helmuth Theodor Bossert, another pioneer of ancient Anatolian studies, who considered the Luwians to have been a great power.{{cite journal |last1=Helmuth |first1=Bossert |title=Asia |journal=Literarische Fakultät der Universität Istanbul |date=1946 |volume=323 |publisher=Forschungsinstitut für altvorderasiatische Kulturen |location=Istanbul}} The almost complete decipherment of Luwian hieroglyphic led to a string of scholarly investigations.{{cite journal |last1=Hawkins |first1=John David |last2=Morpurgo-Davies |first2=Anna |last3=Neumann |first3=Günter |title=Hittite hieroglyphs and Luwian. New evidence for the connection |date=1973 |volume=6 |series=Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |location=Göttingen}}{{cite book |last1=Marazzi |first1=Massimiliano |title=Il geroglifico anatolico : problemi di analisi e prospettive di ricerca |date=1990 |publisher=Dipartimento di studi glottoantropologici, Università "La sapienza" |location=Rome |isbn=88-85134-23-8}}{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Annick |title=Hieroglyphic Luwian an introduction with original texts |date=2010 |publisher=Harrassowitz |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=978-3-447-06109-4 |edition=2., rev.}} Several monographs on Arzawa, the Luwians, and Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions are available.{{cite book |title=Luwian identities : culture, language and religion between Anatolia and the Aegean |date=2013 |publisher=Brill |location=Boston |isbn=978-90-04-25341-4}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Melchert |editor1-first=H. Craig |title=The Luwians |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |location=Boston |isbn=90-04-13009-8}}{{cite book |last1=Yakubovich |first1=Ilya S. |title=Sociolinguistics of the Luvian language |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17791-8}} Two scholars focus in their work almost entirely on Luwian hieroglyphic: Frederik Christiaan Woudhuizen and John David Hawkins.
Thus far, however, little is known archaeologically about western Asia Minor during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Only two large-scale excavations have been conducted by European scholars and published in a western language (Troy{{cite book |last1=Rose |first1=Charles Brian |title=The archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy |date=2013 |location=New York |isbn=9780521762076}} and Beycesultan{{cite book |last1=Mellaart |first1=James |last2=Murray |first2=Ann |title=Beycesultan III pt. 1. Late Bronze Age architecture |date=1995 |publisher=The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara}}). About thirty additional excavations were conducted under Turkish direction and published in Turkish.{{cite journal |last1=Zangger |first1=Eberhard |last2=Mutlu |first2=Serdal |last3=Müller |first3=Fabian |title=Die Luwier: Bindeglied zwischen Mykenern und Hethitern |journal=Mitteilungen aus dem Heinrich-Schliemann-Museum Ankershagen |date=2016 |issue=10/11 |pages=53–89 |publisher=Heinrich-Schliemann-Museum |language=German}} Luwian Studies is aiming to help fill this significant research gap.
Results
Under the auspices of Luwian Studies information about altogether 486 substantial settlements sites of the 2nd millennium BC has been gathered (based on information that is already available in the academic and predominantly Turkish literature) and for the most part made public online on the foundation's website.{{cite web | url=https://luwianstudies.org/sites/ | title=Sites }}
A book{{cite book |last1=Zangger |first1=Eberhard |title=The Luwian Civilization – The Missing Link in the Aegean Bronze Age |date=2016 |publisher=Yayinlari |location=Istanbul |isbn=978-605-9680-21-9 |url=https://www.academia.edu/25342860 |access-date=28 June 2022}} summarizes the main arguments put forward and is available for free download in English, German and Turkish. The research that is supported by Luwian Studies intends to shed new light on the collapse at the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean.{{cite journal |last1=Schulz |first1=Matthias |title=Der nullte Weltkrieg |journal=Spiegel |date=9 July 2016 |issue=28 |page=102 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/archaeologie-woher-kamen-die-seevoelker-am-mittelmeer-a-1102612.html |access-date=28 June 2022 |language=German}}{{cite journal |last1=Ribi |first1=Thomas |title=Kontroverse in der Archäologie: Entscheidungsschlacht um Troja. |journal=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |date=12 May 2016 |url=https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/kunst_architektur/kontroverse-in-der-archaeologie-entscheidungsschlacht-um-troja-ld.82069 |access-date=28 June 2022 |language=German}}{{cite journal |last1=McLerran |first1=Dan |title=Scientists proclaim a new civilization in the Aegean Bronze Age |journal=Popular Archaeology |date=12 May 2016}}{{cite journal |last1=Barras |first1=Colin |title=Trojan war final act in world war z |journal=New Scientist |date=21 May 2016 |volume=230 |issue=3074 |page=10 |doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(16)30882-X |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2087924-world-war-zero-brought-down-mystery-civilisation-of-sea-people/|url-access=subscription }}
In December 2017, the so-called "Beyköy 2" inscription was published – this is a drawing of a Luwian hieroglyphic inscription that was first shown by the British hittitologist Oliver Robert Gurney at the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Ghent in July 1989.{{cite journal |last1=Zangger |first1=Eberhard |last2=Woudhuizen |first2=Fred |editor1-last=Stronk |editor1-first=Jan |editor2-last=de Weerd |editor2-first=Maarten |title=Rediscovered Luwian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Western Asia Minor |journal=TALANTA. Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=2017 |volume=50 |pages=9–56 |url=https://www.talanta.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/TAL-50-Zangger-Woudhuizen-7-XII-17.pdf#page=3 |access-date=28 June 2022 |location=Groningen |issn=0165-2486}} This inscription is widely suspected of having been forged by James Mellaart.{{cite journal |last1=Stissi |first1=Vladimir |editor1-last=Stronk |editor1-first=Jan |editor2-last=de Weerd |editor2-first=Maarten |title=What is drawn and written is not necessarily true. Contextualizing Mellaart's fakes|journal=TALANTA. Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=2017 |volume=50|url=https://www.talanta.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/03-TAL-50-Stissi.pdf |access-date=28 June 2022 |location=Groningen |issn=0165-2486}}
In December 2021, Woudhuizen and Zangger published their controversial reading of the contents of the Cypro-Minoan (Linear D) document Enkomi 1687 was made public. In their interpretation, it is a call for help written from the Southwest Anatolian port of Limyra by a Cypriot nauarch who had encountered an attacking fleet led by the Trojan aristocrat Akamas.{{cite book |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred |last2=Zangger |first2=Eberhard |title=Early Mediterranean Scripts |date=2021 |publisher=Ege Yayınları |isbn=978-605-7673-93-0 |pages=127–131}}{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Frederik C |title=The Language of Linear C and Linear D from Cyprus |journal=Publications of the Henri Frankfort Foundation |publisher=Dutch Archaeological and Historic Society |location=Amsterdam}}
Supported Projects
Luwian Studies has supported various recent fieldwork projects in Turkey, including The Konya Regional Archaeological Survey Project{{Cite web|url=http://www.krasp.net/en/contact-sponsors/|title=Krasp|website=www.krasp.net}} and the Hacıkebir Höyük Intensive Survey,{{Cite web|url=https://luwianstudies.org/luwian-studies-supports-research-projects-in-2019/|title=Luwian Studies supports research projects in 2019|date=January 6, 2019|website=Luwian Studies}} as well as various academic studies on topics such as scribal and writing traditions in western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/aofo/39/2/article-p287.xml|title=Writing in Anatolia: The Origins of the Anatolian Hieroglyphs and the Introductions of the Cuneiform Script|first=Willemijn|last=Waal|date=December 1, 2012|journal=Altorientalische Forschungen|volume=39|issue=2|pages=287–315|via=www.degruyter.com|doi=10.1524/aofo.2012.0020|s2cid=163730722 |url-access=subscription}}
Excerpt of supported projects:
- Archaeological Landscapes of the Luwian Kingdoms of Tarhuntašša and Tabal on the Konya Plain directed by Christoph Bachhuber and Michele Massa
- An Important Bronze Age Settlement in Inland Western Anatolia: Intensive Survey Project of Tavşanlı Höyük and its Surroundings directed by Erkan Fidan and Murat Türktek{{cite web |title=Presentation at the 25th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PW_vZK4qcQ |website=YouTube | date=3 April 2021 |access-date=5 July 2022}}
- In Search of the Missing Link: Writing in Western Anatolia during the Bronze Age by Willemijn Waal{{cite web |title=Presentation at the 25th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m3Wx-ah8I |website=YouTube | date=2 April 2021 |access-date=5 July 2022}}
- The Relationship between Hieroglyphic and Cuneiform Luwian: Reflections on the Origins of Anatolian Hieroglyphs by Francis Breyer{{cite web |title=Presentation at the 25th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBlnkSK7Ug |website=YouTube | date=4 April 2021 |access-date=5 July 2022}}
- East Aegean/western Anatolia and the Role of Aššuwa and Arzawa in Late Bronze Age Cultural Interaction by Antonis Kourkoulakos{{cite web |title=Antonis Kourkoulakos at Münster School of Ancient Cultures |url=https://www.uni-muenster.de/MSAC/profil/Kourkoulakos.html |website=WWU Münster |access-date=5 July 2022}}
The foundation's founder and chair of the board, Eberhard Zangger, at the same time, has recently published a number of papers on the role of astronomical knowledge in Late Bronze Age Anatolia, focusing on the Hittite sanctuary at Yazilikaya.{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.equinoxpub.com/JSA/article/view/37641|title=Celestial Aspects of Hittite Religion: An Investigation of the Rock Sanctuary Yazılıkaya|first1=Eberhard|last1=Zangger|first2=Rita|last2=Gautschy|date=May 4, 2019|journal=Journal of Skyscape Archaeology|volume=5|issue=1|pages=5–38|via=journals.equinoxpub.com|doi=10.1558/jsa.37641|doi-access=free}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232353-600-yazilikaya-a-3000-year-old-hittite-mystery-may-finally-be-solved/|title=Yazılıkaya: A 3000-year-old Hittite mystery may finally be solved|first=Colin|last=Barras|website=New Scientist}}