Harmony and Symmetry - Celestial Regularities Shaping Human Culture. Proceedings of the SEAC 2018 Conference in Graz

The Hittite rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya in central Anatolia contains over ninety rock-cut reliefs of deities, humans, animals, and mythical figures dating to the second half of the 13th century B.C. The site’s function has thus far remained enigmatic. We suggest that the reliefs in Chamber A are arranged in groups for the purpose of keeping track of lunar months, the days of a lunar month, and years. By marking the days and synodic months, the Hittite priests were able to determine when additional months were required to keep lunar and solar years aligned. Keeping track of time was imperative for the Hittites priests to ensure that the many annual festivals fall into the appropriate seasons.