The Three Stelae bearing the inscriptions here published were discovered by Dr. D. S. Rice at Harran in August–September 1956, while he was engaged in examining the architecture of the ruined Great Mosque at that place. A preliminary account of his work, which is sufficient to convey the essential information about the positions and arrangement of these stones in the paving or steps of the Mosque, has been given by the discoverer in the Illustrated London News of 21st September, 1957, pp. 466 ff. All readers of this must admire the acumen which enabled Dr. Rice to “turn but a stone”, where so many “estranged faces” had missed its promise. The original monuments are stated to be kept for the present at a school-house in Urfa until arrangements have been made for their permanent conservation.

Short Reports on the Institute's excavations at Beycesultan, dealing with discoveries in the seasons of 1954, 1955 and 1956 have already been published in this journal (vols. V–VII). In the third of these reports, a break in continuity was occasioned by our temporary concentration on a single isolated discovery; and accordingly, before resuming the more general account, a short recapitulation of our operational sequence may be desirable.

In the final weeks of the 1955 season, a sounding was made in Area “A” on the western summit (see site-plan, Fig. 1), which revealed the presence in this part of the mound of a large public building of the Middle Bronze Age, corresponding in time to the “Burnt Palace” already partly excavated on the eastern summit (Level V). Some preliminary investigations were also made of three occupation levels (VI, VII and VIII) lying directly beneath this building (see Anatolian Studies VI). In 1956 an extension of this sounding was made in the form of a 5-metre trench more than 40 metres long, running out approximately eastwards towards the flank of the mound (Trench “S”). After passing through the already well established sequence of later occupations, further foundations of the Middle Bronze Age were here encountered and it became clear that the building discovered in Area “A” formed part of an administrative complex, perhaps covering the whole of the western summit, and surrounded by its own substantial enclosure wall.

The village of Hacilar is situated in the Vilayet of Burdur in South-west Anatolia, about 25 km. west of Burdur itself on the main road to Yeşilova and Denizli. The chalcolithic site lies about 1·5 km. west of the village and just beyond the orchards, which are irrigated by a plentiful spring at the foot of a great limestone crag which overlooks the village. It is this spring which since neolithic times has been the main reason for more or less continuous occupation in this region. Apart from the neolithic and early chalcolithic site at Hacılar there is a large Early Bronze Age mound on the northern outskirts and a classical site to the south-west of the village.

The prehistoric site is an inconspicuous mound, about 150 metres in diameter, rising to a height of not more than 1·50 m. above the level of the surrounding fields (Fig. 1 and Pl. XXIXa). The entire surface of the mound is under cultivation and a series of depressions show the holes made by a local antique-dealer in search of painted pots and small objects. About 1 km. west of the site runs the Koca Çay, the ancient Lysis, and on the eastern scarp of this river valley lies the cemetery of the Early Bronze Age settlement. Not a single burial has yet been found in the chalcolithic or neolithic levels of our site and it is therefore not unreasonable to suggest that its cemetery also may eventually be located there.

The pottery described in this article was collected during a survey of ancient sites in eastern Turkey carried out in the summer of 1956. More than 150 Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites were recorded: only the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age pottery is discussed here, the later periods being reserved for a future article. A considerable quantity of potsherds was collected, so that only a selection of the more significant examples has been illustrated. The zone covered by this survey is best described as eastern Anatolia within the mountains, excluding both the Pontic region and the south-eastern provinces of Turkey, bordering on Syria and Iraq: it is the narrowest part of the great natural bridge between Asia and Europe that has given Anatolia its long and varied history. The survey covered the greater part of the provinces of Sivas, Malatya, Elazığ, Muş, Bitlis and Van. Sites near Adıyaman, also visited, are not dealt with here. The plain of Iğdır, north of Mount Ararat, was partially explored in 1957, and yielded important material, but the plain of Karaköse proved to have few sites, and those with little surface pottery. The sherds here described are supplemented by intact vessels from Ernis, on the north-eastern shore of Lake Van, now in Van Museum.

The Medieval Castle at Adılcevaz, on the north shore of Lake Van, incorporated in its walls fragments of a relief sculpture carved in basalt. Six such fragments have now been recovered. Two Urartian inscribed blocks, also of basalt, which have for some years stood outside the primary school, had also, no doubt, been used in the wall of the mediaeval castle.

The fragments of sculpture belong to a relief representing a god or king standing on a bull, facing left towards two triple spearheads, placed one above the other. Five of the fragments belong to this figure, but the sixth shows that there was another figure, looking towards the first and likewise facing a triple spearhead. Behind the right-hand figure stands a single triple spearhead, rather taller and more slender than those in the middle, and perhaps fixed on some solid base, only part of which remains. The god or king wears an elaborately decorated garment, probably woven of wool: the pattern, perhaps in gold brocade, is repetitive, with a wide border, edged with a fringe and a band of “herring-bone” pattern.

One of the few inscribed stones which still remain on the hilly site of Pisidian Antioch is a large and impressive block, 0·564 m. by 1·091 m. by 0·475 m., with an inscription cut in elegant letters into the face which now lies uppermost. This stone has probably been moved only a few yards from its original position, for otherwise it would have been taken to the neighbouring town of Yalvaç for building purposes. Such a stone, perhaps originally the basis of a statue, would have been set up in a prominent place in the colony, probably in or near the main square, the Tiberia Platea, and its present position is not far from that square. It is surprising that so fresh-looking a stone should have escaped the notice both of the inhabitants of Yalvaç, and, apparently, of epigraphists. It has, however, been somewhat defaced, and the hole in the centre of the inscription indicates that it has been used for something other than its original purpose: see Plate XXXV(b).

The following article is an attempt to reconstruct the Roman road-system of Eastern Lycaonia from the Peutinger Table (the only ancient itinerary that refers to this region), from published and unpublished milestones and from impressions received on journeys there in 1956 and 1957. I am indebted especially to Sir William Calder for his help at all stages, including the use of his note-books, and also to Messrs. A. S. Hall and J. G. Macqueen, who travelled with me in 1957.

The area covered is in the main that between Laodiceia Combusta on the west and the foot of Hasan Dağ on the east. It is divided into two parts by the great sweep of Boz Dağ, a quarter circle of mountains rising some 500 m. above the surrounding country and separating the fertile and monotonously flat plain of Iconium from the undulating steppe to north and east (map, fig. 1). In Strabo's time the area outside Boz Dağ was a semi-arid waste grazed by vast flocks of sheep and even wild asses, and until the introduction of mechanised methods of farming in the last few years, sheep have always been the principal livelihood of the local population. Water is scarce and many of the wells are over 50 m. deep.

Professor F. W. König published in 1956 a note listing and describing the stones lying in the Van Museum, as far as he was able to do so from photographs of them taken in 1954 by Professor H. Gamerith and placed at his disposal. Professor König's note included two sketches, based on the photographs, of the stones as they lay; and he gave to each stone in the sketches a number by which he referred to it in his list.

Visits to the Van Museum made in the course of journeys in eastern Turkey undertaken by the writer in September 1956 (accompanied and assisted by his wife) and in September 1957 (alone) have made possible the following amplified account of the Urartian stones in the museum. The numbers assigned to the stones in König's sketches are used as a means of reference; information already available in König's note or in his Handbuch is not repeated, except that identifications made by him from the photographs are repeated (in parenthesis) to make the list complete; numbers not occurring in the series relate to stones which could not be seen to bear any Urartian inscription.