Gold Christian amulet, Bronze Age stone seal found in Turkey

A Christian amulet from the 4th or 5th century A.D. has been discovered at the Turkmen Karahoyuk archaeological site in Konya, central Turkey. The small copper cylinder contained a sheet of gold just 0.1 millimeter thick rolled up. It has not been opened yet, but archaeologists believe a passage from the Bible was engraved on the gold. Known as philacteria, amulets of this type were worn as a protective talismans in Late Antiquity. They are rare, especially in gold, and the closest comparable example was found in Germany. The size of the copper container indicates this one was probably worn by a child. Karahoyuk was a settlement on a mound that today is 115 feet high. When it was founded, it was on the shore of a lake. It was first identified in a surface survey in 2017, and subsequent surveys examined the mound and surrounding area, finding ceramics and hieroglyphic Luwian language inscriptions that revealed its occupation dated back to the Bronze Age and continued to Late Antiquity. Türkmen Karahöyük has actually been one of the most noteworthy sites in Anatolian archaeology for several years. The mound gained international attention in 2019 when the same research team discovered a stele inscribed in Luwian hieroglyphs. This stele, dedicated to King Hartapu, suggested that the mound may have been the capital of a great kingdom during the Iron Age, indicating that the region was the center of an unknown political power. Excavations began in 2024 and having continued yearly. We are now in the third season of field excavations, and in addition to the amulet, archaeologists also found a stone seal with an inscription in Luwian hieroglyphics, two copper seals, and a clay seal impression. The stone seal dates back 3,500 years and the inscription includes a personal name and title of an official. The stone seal bears the name “Kurunti-ziti.” According to [excavation co-director Assoc. Prof. Dr.] Massa, this name is linked to the god Kurunta, who held an important place in the Hittite world. Kurunta (Runtiya) was a protective deity associated with deer in Luwian and Hittite beliefs; his name frequently appears in both personal names and within royal circles. The clay seal impression, however, bears a different name. Massa states that these were seals used by administrative personnel in the region to seal documents, thus reflecting traces of an organized state bureaucracy at the mound. King Hartapu ruled in the early 8th century B.C. The discovery of the seal reveals that the Karahoyuk settlement was already a regionally important administrative center far earlier than that, around 1500/1400 B.C.