Kültepe

Kültepe, also known under its ancient name Kaneš or Neša, is an archaeological site in Kayseri Province, Turkey [1]. It was already a major settlement at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC (Early Bronze Age), but it is world-renowned for its significance at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC (Middle Bronze Age) [1]. The archaeological site consists of a large mound, and a lower city, where a kārum (the Assyrian word for trading district) was established in the beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC [1]. So far, 23,500 cuneiform tablets recovered from private houses constitute the largest collection of private texts in the ancient Near East [1]. In 1925, Bedřich Hrozný excavated Kültepe and found over 1000 cuneiform tablets, some of which ended up in Prague and in Istanbul [1].