In 1906, archaeologists clearing the ruins of Hattusa uncovered thousands of clay tablets: And a lost Hittite empire finally found its voice

Sometimes an archaeological finding provides information about a building, a tomb, or even objects, helping researchers fill in gaps in history, while other times such discoveries change the way specialists view an entire civilization. The discovery of Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire located in the center of ancient Anatolia, is a great example of the latter.

Starting in 1906, German archaeologists led by Hugo Winckler discovered many clay tablets hidden in the ruins of one of the largest ancient civilizations. Initially, the discovery looked like a very interesting archive, but over time it turned out to be much more important than one might think. As stated on the Chicago Hittite Dictionary Project website at the University of Chicago, 10,000 clay tablets were discovered in Hattusa, providing researchers with the largest number of Hittite documents ever found.

A ruined city became one of archaeology’s greatest archives

Although the Hittite civilization was attested by historical records from Egypt and Assyria, its existence was largely shrouded in mystery; however, in 1906, all that changed, and knowledge of the Hittite culture expanded drastically. As described in field reports from the University of Chicago, Winckler’s team discovered large caches of clay tablets concentrated in specific areas on the western side of the acropolis, suggesting that entire archives may be intact beneath the rubble. The discovery of ancient documents, therefore, meant that there would no longer be a need for conjecture and guesswork in building a civilization.


It must be emphasized that the discovery of archives of this size has the potential to revolutionize historical research, as one now has access to actual records from that period.

The empire could finally speak for itself

Another factor contributing to the tablets' revolutionary nature is that they introduced a new source of historical information. Prior to the discovery of the tablets, the history of the Hittite kingdom was compiled from various foreign sources that belonged to rival civilizations or allied countries. With the discovery of the tablets, researchers finally gained an inside look at the administrative and diplomatic processes, as well as the religious, legal, and royal aspects of life within the Hittite civilization.

While the cuneiform scripts on the tablets were visible, deciphering the language they used seemed impossible for a long time. According to the University of Texas Linguistics Research Center, Czech linguist Bedřich Hrozný proved the existence of the Indo-European language on the tablets in 1915. This discovery had an impact on research into ancient Anatolia, as it opened the possibility of reading the information on the tablets rather than studying them purely as artifacts. The excavation revealed the archive in 1906, and almost ten years later researchers were able to read it.

Thousands of tablets revealed an organized state

As more texts were translated, historians became aware that the Hittite Empire was much more advanced than previously thought. According to the Chicago Hittite Dictionary Project at the University of Chicago, “The texts included diplomatic correspondence; legal documents; religious texts; treaties; administrative materials; and ritual prescriptions.” The variety and nature of this content indicated the existence of a complex bureaucracy in place that could oversee the management of the territory.

It became crucial for several reasons: first, historians were able to see the Hittites not merely as people mentioned in the records of other civilizations, but as a well-documented civilization in its own right, with its own history, institutions, traditions, and relations with other countries. Secondly, with the help of the translations, one could now discover how the rulers and government officials conducted themselves.

The discovery reshaped the study of the Bronze Age

The significance of Hattusa extends beyond its impact on Hittite history, as the documents have implications for the study of the ancient Near East as a whole. According to modern scholarly publications, including The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, the excavations carried out at Boğazköy in 1906 were one of the events that shaped the field's approach to reconstructing the history of Bronze Age Anatolia. Indeed, the documents allowed the placement of the Hittite Empire, along with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, among the great powers of the second millennium BCE.

This was significant because the Hittites' geographic location made them a link among Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the eastern Mediterranean. As a result, understanding their documents enabled historians to study interactions within a wide area of the ancient world. The documents provided insight not only into the affairs of a single civilization but also into the international system as a whole.

A lost empire recovered through writing

More than 100 years since the first excavations, the Hattusa ruins provide a great example of the potential of written records in recovering a long-lost civilization for archaeology. While the excavated walls, gates, and temples proved that a significant center had been located here, it took the tablets to uncover who built them, what purpose they served, and what significance the city had back then. The significance of the excavation lies not merely in the number of artifacts found, but primarily in the fact that the records discovered had been preserved in sufficient quantity to restore the whole empire. Thanks to diplomatic agreements, religious books, governmental documents, and personal letters, the Hittite people have finally told their story across more than three thousand years.

This is what makes the 1906 excavation so crucial for science. In addition to thousands of clay tablets, the archaeologists recovered the voice of a people long forgotten by history.