Reliefs in the Lower Palace

Five slabs of reliefs from a wall in Lower Palace area at the site of Carchemish.  The palace complex was first built by the Neo-Hittite king, Katuwa at the end of the 10th century BC.  Many of the walls were decorated with sculpted slabs that alternated in black (basalt) and white (limestone).  Most of these are now in the Ankara Museum.  The slabs shown here were discovered in recent excavations.  The ones in the Ankara Museum are much larger.

The palace area, with modifications, was first used by the Neo-Hittite kings of Carchemish, then by the Assyrians who conquered them (717 BC).  After the conquest of Carchemish in 605 BC by the Neo-Babylonians, the palace continued in use up through the Roman Period!  The white (limestone) wall at the top of the image is from the Roman Period.

This area has been, and continues to be, an area of intense excavation and restoration.