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
INTERNATIONAL HITTITE SYMPOSIUM
Gaziantep, Türkiye · 21–23 October 2026
Official symposium programme
DAY 1: Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Registration and Welcome
09:00 - 09:30
Opening Speeches
09:30 - 10:15
Coffee Break (15 min)
10:15 - 10:30
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)
Lunch Break (90 min)
12:00 - 13:30
SESSION 2: Oylum Höyük Written Texts and Administration
Session Chair: Fikri Kulakoğlu
- 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)
Coffee Break (15 min)
15:00 - 15:15
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 BCE
- 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)
Coffee Break (15 min)
17:05 - 17:20
SESSION 4: Cilicia and Mediterranean Connections
Session Chair: Andreas Schachner
- 17:20 Ekin Kozal — Between Coast and Plateau: Kilise Tepe and Hittite Interaction in Rough Cilicia (ca. 1500-1200 BCE)
- 17:40 Aslı Özyar — Waxing and Waning Hittite Presence at the Mound of Gözlükule
- 18:00 Alexander Ericson Sollee — The Upper Town of Sirkeli Höyük
- 18:20 Serdar Girginer, Özlem Oyman-Girginer & Mehmet Cevher — From South of the Taurus to the Kızılırmak Bend: New Evidence from Tatarı Höyük
- 18:40 - 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 & Elif Genç — 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)
Coffee Break (15 min)
10:30 - 10:45
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)
Lunch Break (75 min)
12:15 - 13:30
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 & Elif Denel — 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)
Coffee Break (15 min)
15:20 - 15:35
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
- 16:15 Deniz Burak Kişniş — The Hittite Horizon at Oylum Höyük: Evaluating Local and Hittite Traditions in the Pottery Assemblage
- 16:35 Rotraud Regine Hunziker-Rodewald — From Inscription to Knowledge Graph: Modelling Syntax, Semantics, and Cultural Contact
- 16:55 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
- 17:15 - Session Q&A and Collective Discussion (10 min)
Closing Remarks and Acknowledgments
17:25 - 17:55
Friday, October 23, 2026 (Cultural Tour Day)
Departure for Cultural Tour (Historical Route)
09:30
