Supply of Resources and their Management in Hittite Anatolia (SoRMHA) PRIN 2022 PNRR

 In a world where the exploitation of natural resources is increasingly challenged by environmental, climatic, and political crises, the study of past societies is essential for understanding humanity’s historical relationship with the environment. This research project investigates the exploitation of territory in Turkey during the 15th–13th centuries B.C., in the Hittite period. Through selected case studies, it examines how Hittite society interacted with its environment and raw materials, and how the ruling class managed these resources, significantly shaping the landscape through the creation of an urban-style administrative network. This system relied on coordinated administrative measures to control land, settlements, and production, supporting both local structures and the central state apparatus. The project SoRMHA offers a comprehensive analysis of the economic and administrative organization of space, understood as a network of settlements composed of warehouses and peripheral administrative centers connected to the main center, the capital Hattusa, where officials and scribes recorded incoming goods. The research aims to reconstruct the links between raw materials, some of their possible sources, and settlements across the Hittite kingdom between the 16th and 13th centuries B.C., based on the assumption that materials such as metals, semi-precious stones, and salt were processed locally by craftsmen. It also examines how these resources were transported to Hattusa, where they were registered, stored, and managed. The data collected here are intended for the analysis of the peripheral sites of the Kingdom of Hattusa as they are mentioned in the Cult Inventory Texts (Cammarosano, hethiter.net/: Catalog kultinv (2021-04-14). The analysis focused on all objects designated in the texts as statues, including representations of deities and taurine protomes. In addition, all metal objects that function as emblems and symbols associated with these statues are listed. The map illustrates how this research concentrates on the geographical areas located within the bend of the Kızılırmak and along its course.