The use of symbols and seals used in art of Hatti and Hitite as aesthetic elements in ceramic art and investigation

Since the Ancient Stone Age, Anatolia is a long-established which has a rich cultural foundation harboring many civilizations. Every civilization left a mark on the land of Anatolia. The Hittites State sustained their existence in the lands of Anatolia for long periods of time as a representation of a major civilization. Hittites which become a great kingdom added the culture, language, religion, art approach by accepting them into their own way of life. They were affected from Hatti Civilization in all areas of the life and conjoined in a cohesive whole. The Hittites gave great importance to the art and this ensured that they became an advanced civilization in art and crafts. In Hittite art, statues and sculptures have been considered as sacred beings and it has contribute great meaning and importance to the sculpture art form. Sculptures mostly depicted gods and goddesses as well as lions, bull, and deer considered as sacred animals. These statues are made of materials such as baked clay, gold, silver, bronze, ivory and quartz. When considering Hittite civilization, the first work of art that comes to mind is the symbol of 'Hittite Sun' but this symbol originates from the Hatti culture. This symbol is a grave cult found on the king grave monuments. The Hittite Sun was carried as a banner and a flag in religious ceremonies. Other than sculpture art, architecture, reliefart, and seal art are proofs of how successful the Hittites were in handcrafted work of arts. Hittite stamp seals crafted in different ways had a great importance for the trade and were used as signatures on official documents. In archeological excavations, there different stamp seals are found and extracted. Simple but elegant Hittite works of art became a source of inspiration to many artists from past to today and in this regard, using the Hittite symbols and seals, they carried over the Hittite heritage up to modern times. In this study, I investigated the cultures, symbols, arts, languages, and religions of the Hatti-Hittite Civilizations. Based on the data collected, I created new designs on ceramics conveying Hatti-Hittite symbols with a consideration of aesthetics. In this qualitative study, I used observation, interview, general survey, and literature research models. In this study composed of two sections, the first section covers "the Hatti-Hittite Civilization" while the second section covers "The Effects of Hittites in Modern Ceramics Art and Turkish Artists with the Hittite Imprints in Ceramics Works of Arts and Thesis Implementation Examples." It is considered that the Hittite seals and symbols implementation examples will be true models for other artists in this realm. Keywords: Ceramics, Hittite Art, Hittite Sun, Stamp Seal, Turkish Ceramics Artists