Hüseyindede vases

The Hüseyindede vases are Early Hittite vases decorated with reliefs, which were found in excavations at Hüseyindede Tepe near Yörüklü in the Turkish province of Çorum. There are fragments of four vases in total. Two of them were nearly complete and were able to be restored. They are on display in the Çorum Archaeological Museum.

During site inspections by the Turkish archaeologists Tunç Sipahi und Tayfun Yıldırım in 1996, sherds of Early Hittite pottery were found on the surface on the south side of Hüseyindede Tepe among other things. During an emergency excavation in 1997 and further regular excavations from 1998 in collaboration with the Çorum Archaeological Museum, fragments of earthenware pottery and parts of four distinct Hittite relief vases were brought to light. Two of them were found in an ancient storeroom; the other two amongst the surrounding debris. They were restored in the museum. Vase B, the smaller one, which includes an image frieze, was published by Sipahi in 2001, while the restoration of Vase A, which has four image friezes, was still ongoing. Vase A was finally published in 2002 by Yıldırım, at the Hittitology congress in Ankara.

Hittite relief vases have been known since the excavations of Boğazköy (the Hittite capital of Hattusa). Fragments have also been found at Alişar, Alaca Höyük, Eskiyapar, Kabaklı, Elbistan-Karahöyük und Kaman-Kalehöyük. They have generally been dated to the early period of the Hittite Empire, in the first quarter of the second millennium BC. The sole reconstructed example was a four friese vase from İnandıktepe, which is on display in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, and a fragment with three friezes from Bitik. The motifs depicted on these vases consist of ritual activities, offering scenes, and festivals with acrobats, dancers and musicians.

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