A 3200-year-old sanctuary once described as the Sistine Chapel of Hittite religious art could have acted as a calendar that was centuries ahead of its time

Some call Yazılıkaya in Turkey the Sistine Chapel of Hittite religious art Getty

FOR 3200 years they have guarded their secret. The deities carved in limestone near the ancient city of Hattusa are as enigmatic as they are beautiful.

Perhaps no longer. A controversial theory suggests the ancient carvings may have functioned as a calendar, with a level of sophistication way ahead of its time. “It’s not only a striking idea, it’s reasonable and possible,” says Juan Antonio Belmonte at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Spain, who wasn’t part of the work.

Hattusa was the …