Ритуалите, извършвани в ями, според хититски текстове от Мала Азия

Rituals performed in pits according to Hittite texts from Asia Minor

Abstract

This article considers the possibility of applying the written data in a series of Hittite texts for the reconstruction of rituals, recorded in pit complexes on Bulgarian territory. The intensive rescue excavations in Bulgaria over the past decades have revealed a significant number of archaeological sites from different periods, where the main structures are pits. The quantity and quality of the accumulated information allowed researchers to trace some common features, especially of those pits dating to the 1^st millennium BC. The proposed analysis of written data that provide several analogies with the archaeologically attested situations covers a group of Hittite texts, created between the 14^th–12^th c. BC, with accurate descriptions of pit rituals.

Comparisons were made on the basis of the following criteria: the location of the pits, their shape and construction, the content that testifies to blood and bloodless sacrifices, the hoarding of various objects: metal adornments, weapons, nails, pieces of house mortar, portable hearths, whorls, etc.), and clay “cult” objects. By pointing out the similarities and the differences between the archaeological phenomena and the realia in the Hittite texts, it is possible to suggest the general meaning and purpose of the ritual acts performed, viz. the purification and cyclic sanctification of the territories by their inhabitants.