Archaeologist buried in ancient city she excavated

ISTANBUL

Turkish academic and archaeologist Vuslat Müller-Karpe has been buried in the 3,800-year-old Hittite city of Kayalıpınar, where she conducted excavations for years, after she died on Aug. 7.

Karpe, who was the head of an excavation team during the excavations that started in 2005 in Kayalıpınar, located in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas’ Yıldızeli district, died of a heart attack in Germany.

Karpe had asked to be buried in Kayalıpınar in her will.

Andreas Müller Karpe, a well-known academic like his wife, left a bunch of roses on the grave of the archaeologist after covering it with soil.

The funeral was attended by Karpe’s relatives as well as Yıldızeli district governor Furkan Atalık, Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Teoman Karaca and villagers.

Speaking to journalists, Karpe stated that his wife, whom he met 41 years ago in Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittites, devoted her life to Turkish archeology.

“We have done excavations in many places before. We have conducted excavations in Kayalıpınar for the last 15 years. She was able to draw very important conclusions,” he said, expressing that his wife always wanted to stay in this geography.

“She wanted to stay at Samuha Kayalıpınar. That’s why we buried her here today, she will stay here forever,” he added.

An archaeological excavation was initiated in 2005 in the Hittite city of Kayalıpınar, formerly known as “Samuha.”

Reliefs with figures of Hittite deities and tablets belonging to Hittite and Assyrian trade colonies recovered from Kayalıpinar are displayed at the Sivas Archaeology Museum thanks to the archeologist.