Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park

Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park in Osmaniye Province, southern Turkey, protects a Late Iron Age hill fortress and an open-air museum containing reliefs and monumental sculpture. The site is notable for large stone lion sculptures and inscribed relief blocks from a Neo-Hittite settlement dated to the late 8th century BC.

Key highlights include the fortress gate flanked by carved lion figures, wall reliefs depicting rulers and deities, and a bilingual inscription in Phoenician and hieroglyphic Luwian that helped scholars read Luwian hieroglyphs. The site combines archaeological remains with an open-air display of architectural fragments and inscriptions concentrated on the fortified hill.

Excavations and conservation work in the mid 20th century exposed the fortress walls, reliefs and inscriptions; the area was subsequently developed as a protected archaeological site and museum area within the national park. Today the park links the archaeological remains with visitor facilities and interpretation.

The site sits on a limestone hill near the settlement bearing the same name in Osmaniye Province, southern Turkey, set in a landscape of agricultural plain and reservoirs associated with the Ceyhan river basin. It is accessed by road from regional centres in Osmaniye Province.

• Karatepe bilingual inscription: Reliefs and an inscribed bilingual text in Phoenician and hieroglyphic Luwian from the site were key to understanding Luwian hieroglyphs.
• Date of the monuments: Many of the visible reliefs and sculptures date to the late 8th century BC and belong to Neo-Hittite / Luwian workshop traditions.

What to See #

• Fortress and lion sculptures: A fortified hill site with monumental stone sculptures of lions and gateways dating to the late 8th century BC, forming the visible remains of a Neo-Hittite fortress.
• Open-air museum: An open-air museum and small on-site display that exhibit inscriptions, relief blocks and finds recovered during excavations.