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Archaeologists Found an Entirely New Language Among the Ruins of an Ancient Empire

created: July 28, 2025, 7:51 p.m. | updated: Aug. 4, 2025, 11:20 a.m.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:The archaeological site at Turkey’s Boğazköy-Hattusha, the former capital of the Bronze Age Hittite empire, is a hotbed of ancient languages. During excavations of the ruins, archaeologists uncovered a new language written on a tablet detailing a foreign ritual. Although experts aren’t sure what the specific idiom says, they can confirm that the new language is a member of the Anatolian Indo-European language family. Today, the ancient city of Hattusha —the capital of the Hittite empire that ruled north-central Turkey in the late Bronze Age (1650 - 1200 BCE)—is a treasure trove of ancient languages. However, the newly discovered language has more in common with Luwian, a language spoken by people in the southeastern corner of the Hittite empire.

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