Turkish Archaeologists Discovered the Mysterious Kingdom in Konya

Research conducted by American, British, and Turkish academics and students in the excavation site of Turkmen-Karahöyük, located in Konya, suggests that the center of a kingdom has been discovered by chance.

A research project called the Konya Regional Archaeological Surface Survey Project (KRASP) was launched in Konya in close collaboration with Oxford University, Ankara British Institute of Archaeology, Çukurova University, and the University of Chicago. The study focused specifically on the detailed examination of the archaeological structure of the Konya Plain between 9500-300 BC.

During the ongoing surface surveys within the scope of this project, a farmer informed the archaeologists involved in the research project that he had seen an ancient stone with strange writings on it in an irrigation channel in the area. As a result, the stone in the channel was found based on the farmer's description. The stone, which is thought to date back to the 8th century BC, actually contained Luwian texts, which were the ancient language of Anatolia in the Antiquity period.

When the writing on the stone found in Turkmen-Karahöyük was deciphered by a world-renowned expert in Luwian, it was revealed that it mentioned the name of Hartapu, who referred to himself as the 'Great King', and spoke of his kingdom, even mentioning that his kingdom had defeated Phrygia.

Experts believe that King Hartapu was the ruler of an unknown kingdom and that Turkmen-Karahöyük, which covers an area of 120 hectares, may have been a great ancient city that served as the center of his kingdom between 1400 and 600 BC. In fact, in addition to the inscription found in Turkmen-Karahöyük mentioning King Hartapu, there are eight other Luwian inscriptions found in the Konya Plain. However, these inscriptions do not fully reveal Hartapu's historical identity or who he was the king of.

Some experts focus on his Hittite identity and interpret Hartapu as a king of the late Hittite period. However, the descriptions in his inscriptions, including the mention of his name as the Great King and the accounts of conquering many lands, contradict the statements of a Hittite king in the collapsing period. Linguists do not agree on the dating of the Hartapu inscriptions. Based on this, we can estimate that Hartapu lived between the 13th and 8th centuries BCE. However, none of the inscriptions provide information about which kingdom Hartapu ruled. Therefore, there is no definitive evidence to confirm whether Hartapu was a Hittite king or not. In light of all this information, it is important to consider the possibility that Hartapu was the ruler of an unknown kingdom and that the Konya region was the capital of this kingdom. Additionally, it is possible that this kingdom played a role in the collapse of the Hittite Empire.