Symposium Programme

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

THE HITTITES BEYOND THE TAURUS

Multiculturality and Continuity from the mid-2nd millennium to the mid-1st millennium BCE
"The Hittites Again"
International Hittite Symposium
October 21-22, 2026 | Gaziantep, Türkiye

DAY 1: Wednesday, October 21, 2026

• 09:00-09:30 Registration and Welcome
• 09:30-10:15 Opening Speeches
• 10:15-10:30 Coffee Break (15 min)

SESSION 1: Empire, Center, and Roads
Session Chair: Ayşe Tuba Ökse

• 10:30 Andreas Schachner - Ruling the Hittite Empire from Its Edge: On the Relations between Hattusa and the Regions South of the Taurus
• 10:50 Riko Süssenguth - How to Get beyond the Taurus Mountains: An Evaluation of Connecting Paths in Hittite Times
• 11:10 Sylvia Hutter-Braunsar - The Dynasty of Išuwa during the Hittite Empire Period
• 11:30 Kimiyoshi Matsumura - Büklükale: Hurrian Elements
• 11:50 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

12:00-13:30 Lunch Break (90 min)

SESSION 2: Oylum Höyük Written Texts and Administration
Session Chair: Fikri Kulakoğlu[cite: 2]

• 13:30 Aydoğan Bozkurt - The Hittite Administrative Building at Oylum Höyük: Architectural and Archaeological Assessments
• 13:50 Metin Alparslan - Old and New Hittite Cuneiform Texts from Oylum Höyük and Their Interpretation
• 14:10 Daniel Schwemer - New Akkadian Text Finds from Oylum Höyük
• 14:30 Meltem Doğan-Alparslan - Anatolian Hieroglyphic Seals and Seal Impressions Found at Oylum Höyük
• 14:50 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

15:00-15:15 Coffee Break (15 min)

SESSION 3: Religion, Cult, Food Processing and Archaeobotanical Heritage
Session Chair: Kimiyoshi Matsumura

• 15:15 Vincent Blanchard & Alice Mouton - Some Goddesses through the Ages: Šawoška-s in Anatolia in the Second and the First Millennia ВСЕ
• 15:35 Manfred Hutter - Towards a History of Kubaba: Her Centres South of the Taurus and Her Minor Position in Hattusa
• 15:55 Mauro Giorgieri - Nupatik and Karhuha: Cultural Interaction and Religious Multiculturalism at Karkemish
• 16:15 Lucia Mori - Food and Power: New Evidence of Food Processing in Public Areas at Malizi (Arslantepe) in the Early Iron Age
• 16:35 Salih Kavak - The Archeobotanical Heritage of the Eastern Mediterranean: Subsistence Strategies, Socio-Cultural Continuity, and Paleoclimate from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age
• 16:55 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

16:55-17:10 Coffee Break (15 min)

SESSION 4: Cilicia and Mediterranean Connections
Session Chair: Andreas Schachner

• 17:10 Ekin Kozal - Between Coast and Plateau: Kilise Tepe and Hittite Interaction in Rough Cilicia (ca. 1500-1200 BCE)
• 17:30 Aslı Özyar - Waxing and Waning Hittite Presence at the Mound of Gözlükule
• 17:50 Alexander Ericson Sollee - The Upper Town of Sirkeli Höyük
• 18:10 Serdar Girginer - Özlem Oyman-Girginer - Mehmet Cevher - From South of the Taurus to the Kızılırmak Bend: New Evidence from Tatarı Höyük
• 18:30 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

DAY 2: Thursday, October 22, 2026

SESSION 5: Euphrates Valley, Carchemish, and Eastern Borders
Session Chair: Kay Kohlmeyer

• 09:00 Nicolò Marchetti - Karkemish between Imperial and Late Hittite Times
• 09:20 Fikri Kulakoğlu - The Neo-Hittites East of the Euphrates and Their Contemporaries
• 09:40 Ferhan Sakal - The Materiality of the Hittite Presence in Emar
• 10:00 Federico Manuelli - The Crisis Beyond the Taurus: Tracking Traces of the 13th-Century BC Hittite Decline in South-Eastern Anatolia
• 10:20 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break (15 min)

SESSION 6: Architecture and Regional Centers
Session Chair: Aslı Özyar

• 10:45 Barbara Helwing - German Excavations in Zincirli: A Brief History
• 11:05 Kay Kohlmeyer - Hittite Impact on Syrian Culture, a Side Note from Aleppo
• 11:25 Miroslav Novak - What Is Hittite about Neo-Hittite Architecture?
• 11:45 Michael Blömer - Hittite Impact: The Dülük Baba Tepesi Sanctuary and the Continuity of Iron Age Traditions in the Roman Period
• 12:05 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

12:15-13:30 Lunch Break (75 min)

SESSION 7: Islahiye-Nurdağı Valley and Amuq Plain
Session Chair: Barbara Helwing

• 13:30 Atilla Engin - Geopolitical and Geocultural Dynamics Behind the Establishment of the Hittite Sculpture Workshop in Yesemek
• 13:50 Özgür Çomak - Rescue Excavations at Taşlıgeçit Höyük: New Hittite Finds and Their Connection to the Yesemek Sculpture Workshop
• 14:10 Timur Demir - Gerçin Höyük as a Neo-Hittite Center: Cultural Continuity, Monumental Architecture, and Regional Interaction in Light of Recent Research
• 14:30 Timothy P. Harrison - The Tayinat Sculptures and Neo-Hittite Ritual
• 14:50 Murat Akar - Building a Hittite Social Memory in a Translucent Borderland: The Amuq Valley from the Kingdom to the Empire Period and Beyond
• 15:10 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

15:20-15:35 Coffee Break (15 min)

SESSION 8: Material Culture & New Methods
Session Chair: Manfred Hutter

• 15:35 Ayşe Tuba Ökse - Hittite-Southeast Anatolian Relations through Ceramics
• 15:55 Ayşe Çalık-Ross - Late Bronze Age Ceramic Finds from Gülnar (Mersin) in the Middle Taurus Mountains
• 17:15 Deniz Burak Kişniş - The Hittite Horizon at Oylum Höyük: Evaluating Local and Hittite Traditions in the Pottery Assemblage
• 17:35 Rotraud Regine Hunziker-Rodewald - Joint Presentation: Socio-Environmental & Epigraphic Contexts
• 17:55 Thomas Zimmermann - There and Back Again - A Critical Archaeometrical Review of 2nd and 1st Millennium BCE Hittite and Early Iron Age Copper-Based Metalwork in the Taurus Catchment and Beyond
• 18:15 Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)

18:25 18:55 Closing Remarks and Acknowledgments

Friday, October 23, 2026 (Cultural Tour Day)

• 09:30 Departure for Cultural Tour (Historical Route)