Taşçı

It is located about 60 km southeast of Kayseri, near the location known as Taşçı in the Zamanti valley of the Yenice river. On the limestone rock walls of the valley, there are two heavily worn-out reliefs less than 100 meters apart. The first one, Taşçı A, is on a flattened rock surface of about 3 meters long. It was first recognized by Hans Rott in 1906 and shows three persons aligned to the right. Over the figures and on the left are the Hieroglyphic Luwian writings. The details in the lower section of the relief are almost impossible to make out. The leftmost of the three figures is a female, and the two in front of her are males. The first name(?) on the sinistroverse (right to left) inscription is only partially readable, and the suggested reading for the rest is "Manazi, daughter of Lupaki the Army-Scribe, son of(?) Zida the MESEDI guard, servant of the Great King Hattusili, the Hero" (based on J. D. Hawkins). The name above the rightmost of the three is not complete. The Great King Hattusili named in the inscription is Hattusili III, and therefore dates the relief to the mid-13th century. There is a cave-like opening right above the relief in which are several interconnected round holes that may have been formed by flowing water.

The second relief, Taşçı B, was first spotted by S. Alp, E. Akurgal, and W. McCallien in a joint mission, and it is in substantially better condition, but the inscription that is shown above and below the stretched arm of the male figure is not readable.


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Taşçı A

Taşçı B