The August 1999 Eclipse:
August 1999 provided an opportunity to celebrate the last eclipse of the Second Millennium at Kerkenes. This was particularly fitting because the 'Battle of the Eclipse' between the Lydians and the Medes was fought in the vicinity of Kerkenes when, as Herodotus says:
'The day suddenly turned into night..."

The Eclipse Day:
Astronomers calculate that the 'Battle of the Eclipse' ended on the afternoon of May 25, 585 BC. Modern computer programs confirm that path of totality would have crossed Central Anatolia.

The Crowd:
Local organisations lent strong support to the occasion which attracted several thousand people to the site. Not since the Iron Age had Kerkenes hosted such a crowd!

The City Wall:
The city was first described by J.J.C. Anderson in 1903. Von der Osten, after his 1926 visit, wrote: 
"As to the silent ancient city immediately before us, it is nothing short of imposing. The surrounding walls, which when viewed from the kaleh at the easternmost angle of the city appear like long welts of piled-up rocks...... The great expanse of ruins, once teeming with life and resounding with the voices of a powerful people who dominated most of Asia Minor, now lies mute and barren."

Map of Defences by H.H. von der Osten and F.H. Blackburn:
In 1927 Hans Henning von der Osten returned with F.H. Blackburn and, using a plane table, produced this remarkable map of the defences in only three days.

The Marconigram:
In 1928, Erich Schimdt, instructed to make a diversion from excavations at nearby Alisar Höyük, dug 14 trenches in a week. The results were summed up in a Marconigram sent from Kayseri:
KERKENES, POST-HITTITE PRECLASSICAL.