My current fiction project, the 4th book in the Tesha series, has taken me to Hattusa, the Hittite Empire’s capital. The archaeology presents a complicated picture. This city, lost to human memory, began its gradual rediscovery in 1906. A lecture by Andreas Schachner, director of the German Archaeological Institute’s excavations at Hattusa since 2006, gives enjoyable insight into this vast archaeological dig.
As I begin drafting the 4th book in the Tesha series, I’m deep into renewing my knowledge of the capital city of Hattusa. It turns out I’m out of date, and the new understanding of this massive archaeological site is a gift to a fiction writer. I’m reporting back from my deep-in-the-weeds research.
Posts I enjoyed from around the web: a Hittite village to be built at the UNESCO site of Hattusa (otherwise known as the capital of the Hittite Empire), really, really old maps (maybe), recreating the Queen of Sheba’s perfume (also used by one of my characters, a blind woman you’ll really like), the cosmopolitan world of Late Bronze Age Cyprus and the Old World might not have chatted with the New World as early as some people think.
Here are some posts I enjoyed this week: sensational Bronze Age finds at Hala Sultan Tekke on Cyprus, Roman mosaic of Poseidon in Turkey uncovered, Olympian not Olympic cycling, ancient synagogue in Galilee and the discovery of a secret tunnel at the venerable dig at Alacahöyük Turkey
Join me at the Chandler library Oct 18 for National Archaeology Day! Also, my favorite posts around the web this week: HNS self-published author award, archaeology from Spain, Macedonia, Hattusa & Athens, & Donis Casey on dialogue.
