Photo: Cuneiform Tablet from Nerik
Credit: Hürriyet Daily News

German archaeologist Rainer Czichon said that he has discovered the ancient city of Nerik, a holy city of the Hittite empire located in northern Turkey. Czichon says that the cuneiform tablets found at the site prove that the place is the ancient city of Nerik.

Czichon said: “We already know that this region is a Hittite settlement. We have found cuneiform tablets that will prove that this place is Nerik. There are scriptures about Nerik in four cuneiform tablets that we found this year. There is a part named ‘Tahanga’ in two of the tablets. Tahanga is a section in Nerik’s ‘god of air’ temple.”

Czichon also said that in addition to the cuneiform tablets, the excavation also found several seal impressions. He said that the seal impressions “belong to a clerk. This is normal in Hattusa but we are in the very northern part of the Hittite Empire.”

You can read more about the holy city of Nerik here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary