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The Great Artemis Statue in the Ephesus Museum bears little resemblance to the familiar Greek huntress carrying a bow and quiver. Instead, the goddess appears in a rigid, richly decorated form, covered with animals and symbols closely tied to ancient Ephesus. The marble statue was found in 1956 at the Prytaneion, one of the city’s […] The post Bees, Griffins and a 1,900-Year-Old Mystery: The Great…
Eleven newly identified obsidian arrowheads from Tepecik-Çiftlik in central Türkiye carry carefully cut marks whose purpose remains unknown. The finds expand a rare group of artifacts known only from Neolithic Central Anatolia. Researchers Alice Vinet and Denis Guilbeau examined the arrowheads for a study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One. Together with one previously […] The post…
Archaeologists have begun the first excavation of a 2,800-year-old Phrygian tumulus in Ankara, opening a new investigation into one of the capital’s lesser-known ancient landscapes. The BT10 Tumulus lies in the Bahçelievler-Emek area, within the western necropolis used during the Phrygian period. According to Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the burial mound dates to […] The post First…
Archaeologists at the ancient city of Antandros in western Türkiye are uncovering a 1,600-year-old monumental church decorated with mosaics, frescoes and granite columns, providing new evidence for the city’s importance during the early Christian period. Excavation director Prof. Dr. Gürcan Polat said work during the 2026 season has focused largely on the Late Antique church, […] The post…
What began with a farmer planting a sapling in eastern Türkiye has developed into the excavation of an extensive Late Roman and Early Byzantine settlement, complete with a monumental mosaic, bath complex, church, storage areas and a child burial. The discovery began in 2023 in Salkaya village, about 14 kilometers north of Elazığ, when a […] The post Farmer’s Mosaic Discovery Reveals a Vast Late…
Archaeologists are preparing to launch a new phase of excavations at Rhodiapolis, an ancient Lycian city in Antalya, southern Türkiye, with fieldwork expected to begin in 2027. Located on a hill overlooking the Kumluca plain, Rhodiapolis preserves traces of a long settlement history extending from the early first millennium BC through the Hellenistic, Roman and […] The post Excavations to Resume…
Centuries ago, a Scandinavian visitor climbed into the upper galleries of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and scratched a familiar Norse name into its marble: Halfdan. His identity has disappeared from history, but the worn runes he left behind still preserve a remarkably personal trace of the northern travellers who once made the Byzantine capital part […] The post A Viking-Age Visitor Named…
Archaeologists excavating Gedikkaya Cave in northwestern Türkiye have uncovered around 25 stone turtle figurines, some deliberately inserted into the ground around a circular arrangement. The objects were recovered from archaeological contexts dating between approximately 14,500 and 11,200 BCE, offering unusual evidence of symbolic behavior among hunter-gatherer communities in prehistoric…
Luwian hieroglyphs carved on two 2,900-year-old stone steles from Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast preserve the name and ambitions of an Iron Age ruler who might otherwise have remained little more than a shadow in the history of the region. Known as the Arsuz Steles, the monuments come from Hatay Province. Their inscriptions identify the ruler behind […] The post Luwian Hieroglyphs on 2,900-Year-Old…
Archaeologists excavating the Apollo Smintheus Sanctuary in northwestern Türkiye are uncovering new sections of a Roman bath complex dating to around the 3rd century AD, including its dressing room and cold-bath area. The work is focused on the Western Bath at the sanctuary in Gülpınar, Çanakkale Province. Excavators have reached the floor of the apodyterium, […] The post 1,700-Year-Old Roman Bath…
New excavations at Göbekli Tepe have uncovered rectangular Neolithic structures in an area made accessible after olive trees were relocated. The discovery has revived a persistent claim that the trees were deliberately planted to prevent archaeologists from digging — but the documented history of the site tells a more complicated story. A newly opened excavation […] The post Olive Trees Were…
An artifact once recovered from a Roman military site in Germany has disappeared, leaving archaeologists with little more than an old photograph and a handwritten inventory entry. The image, taken in 1938, shows a small metal sheet engraved with a winged human figure whose identity remains uncertain. Researchers from LWL Archaeology for Westphalia rediscovered the […] The post Lost Relic From…
Archaeologists excavating 2,500-year-old Lydian homes at Sardis in western Türkiye have uncovered bread remains, ceramic vessels, food traces and everyday objects left behind when residents abandoned the neighborhood following the Persian conquest of the city. The discoveries are opening an unusually direct window onto ordinary life in the capital of the Lydian Kingdom. Rather than […] The post…
Gök Kümbet, a 665-year-old mausoleum standing inside Iraq’s historic Kirkuk Citadel, is set to undergo restoration after years of deterioration left the monument threatened by cracks, erosion and structural instability. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) has begun preparations to restore the octagonal monument, also known as the Green Dome, which dates to 1361. […] The post…
