A one-hour video of a lecture of the research done by Eberhard Zangger and Rita Gautschy about the rock sanctuary Yazılıkaya is now also available with Turkish subtitles on YouTube. The lecture entitled “The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars as seen by Hittites and Luwians” on the work of the geoarchaeologist and archaeologist/astronomer provides an overview of the references to the sky in Hittite religion, which have been made in the past few years. Based on these, an astronomical explanation is developed for the Hittite rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya near the former capital Hattusa. The stone reliefs of Chamber A of the famous sanctuary show 63 (still preserved) reliefs of deities. These can be grouped according to lunar months (12), maximum number of days per lunar month (30), and number of years until the cycle repeats itself (19). Yazılıkaya was therefore a lunisolar calendar – and could still function as such today.
The lecture took place on March 14, 2019 in Zurich as part of a regular meeting of the Luwian Studies board. In comments on YouTube people had asked for a version with Turkish subtitles.