Cultural Heritage Research Institute to Excavation 3,900-Year-Old Urban Ruins in Turkiye

Cultural Heritage Administration and Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism Sign MOU
Investigation of Kultepe-Kanesh with Cuneiform Clay Tablets Discovered

On the 16th, the Cultural Heritage Administration signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of T?rkiye for exchange and cooperation in the field of cultural heritage. They will jointly carry out projects for the protection, preservation, restoration, and promotion of cultural heritage, and exchange knowledge on disaster prevention and safety for cultural heritage affected by earthquakes.

The starting point is the joint excavation and investigation of the Kultepe-Kanesh site. The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage will collaborate with Ankara University in T?rkiye for five years starting next year.

The Kultepe-Kanesh site, located 20 km northeast of Kayseri city, is a 3,900-year-old urban site. It bears traces of global trade connecting the East and West. It gained significant attention after approximately 23,500 clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform script in ancient Assyrian were unearthed. These records were inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2015.

According to the Cultural Heritage Administration, the Kultepe-Kanesh site covers an area of 3.6 million square meters, but only about 3% has been excavated so far. Currently, Ankara University, the University of Milan in Italy, and Okayama University in Japan are participating in the investigation. This year, Harvard University from the United States will join. The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage is the first national institution specializing in cultural heritage research to participate.

The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to expand cooperative projects starting with joint excavation and research. They aim to strengthen policies related to cultural heritage from multiple angles and increase the number of countries they collaborate with based on this foundation.