Archeological research on the Karacadağ and a hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from Karaören

Abstract

This essay presents a partial report of surveys on the Karacadaǧ (Konya), which have been carried out since 2016 due to the find of a fragment of a hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from the 13th century BC at the village of Karaören. The results of the survey allow a holistic understanding of the material and topographic conditions which led to the writing, re-use and then find of the inscription. The inscription is presented and a possible historical-geographical framework both of this and of other related texts is explained, whereby it seems probable that there was an important military-strategic border here. The survey and associated ethnographic research established the importance of the freshwater springs on the Karacadaǧ, as well as the continuous re-use of stones attesting a profound cultural memory that runs from the Hittite period through a populous Byzantine occupation up until modern applications by the inhabitants of the Karacadağ.