Wasous

When Augustus Caesar rose to become the first Roman emperor, in 27 BC, the seeds recently unearthed by Turkish archeologists were already 2,000 years old.

Some of the recently found olive seeds [Credit: Gaziantep University]

Those same seeds, found during excavations in Kilis, along the Turkish-Syrian border, have a vintage dating back four millennia -- around the time the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built.

“We’ve discovered dozens of olive seeds inside layers dating back 4,000 years, and various basaltic grinding stones that we think were used to produce olive oil,” Atilla Engin, an archaeology professor at Gaziantep University, told Anadolu Agency.

The seeds were found in a historic tumulus in southeastern Turkey called Oylum, one of the biggest of its kind in the region.

View of Oylum tumulus in southeastern Turkey [Credit: AA]

Explaining how the eastern Mediterranean is known as the “Motherland of Olives,” Engin said olives and olive oil were not just used for food, but also had numerous uses in textiles, medicine, and mining.

Olive oil was a pricey and valued commodity in ancient times, he said.

“It was twice as expensive as sesame oil, which is harder to produce than olive oil, and it was 10 times more expensive than wine,” he explained.

Author: Izzet Mazi | Source: Anadolu Agency [December 04, 2018]

Archaeological research by the University of Bern in Sirkeli Höyük, Turkey, has led to the discovery of a Bronze Age and Iron Age city complex. With over 80 hectares, it is one of the largest known settlements of this period in Turkey. Remarkable finds underline the importance of the ancient city, which could even be Kummanni, known as a place of worship.

Panoramic view from north to the ruins of Sirkeli Höyük with citadel, lower town, upper town and suburb [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Sirkeli Höyük is a Bronze Age and Iron Age site 40 kilometres east of Adana in ancient Cilicia. The Swiss-Turkish expedition to Sirkeli Höyük is led by the University of Berne and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Turkish Ministry of Culture.

Even before the Swiss-Turkish excavations began, Sirkeli Höyük was regarded as one of the largest Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in Cilicia, an immensely important region in terms of cultural history at the interface between the Levant (Syro-Mesopotamia), Cyprus and Anatolia.

View from the west to the citadel hill with two excavation areas, on the left the medieval castle Yılan KalePanoramic view from north to the ruins of Sirkeli Höyük with citadel, lower town, upper town and suburb [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Recent excavations have now produced spectacular results: the project team used geophysical surveys and surface inspections to discover an extensive lower town with dense residential development and an upper town on two ridges with a necropolis and chamber tombs at its centre.

Project manager Mirko Novák from the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bern explains: "Together with extramural workshop areas and a suburb on the opposite side of the Ceyhan (Pyramos), these urban areas form an 80 hectare urban landscape that is uniquely complex for Cilicia, for the North Levant and for South Anatolia, and structurally reminiscent of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša".

Stamp seal with inscriptions [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

As Mirko Novák says, both the lower and upper towns were surrounded by a double ring of city walls and a moat, which also enclosed the citadel - a small self-contained fortress on the actual hill, which had been known for a long time.

Excavations are currently taking place in various parts of the city. In the Lower Town, the elaborate walls of the city fortifications made of large stone blocks and the East Gate from the early 1st millennium paved with stone slabs were investigated. On the outer façade of the gate there were traces of a siege, which was probably carried out by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) and thus date back to the year 835 BC.

Face depiction of a composite figure [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

A stamp seal was also found in an adjacent building, which is inscribed equally with Luwian, i.e. Old Anatolian hieroglyphics and Babylonian cuneiform characters. "The parallel use of these two writing systems on a seal is extremely unusual for the 1st millennium BC," says Novák.

In the northeast of the citadel there are two rock reliefs - one shows the Hittite king Muwattalli II (1290-1272 BC). Above the reliefs there is a building that obviously served ancestor worship and in which the unrolling of seals with luwian hieroglyphics from the late 2nd millennium was found. In another stone building in the northwest of the citadel hill, the face of a man-shaped composite figure made of stone came to light.

Ceramic vessels grouped around three sheep skeletons [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Ceramic vessel placed on the sheep skeletons [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

The most remarkable discovery, however, took place in another structure investigated at the highest point of the citadel: In a relatively small room, the skeletons of at least three sheep lay next to a pedestal. Several complete, partly painted ceramic vessels were deposited on and next to the animals. Obviously, this find is the remains of a ritual act.

"All these findings support the assumption that the ancient city could be Kummanni, known as a place of worship," says Novák.

[Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

The latest research results are now published in Schriften zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie.

For more information: www.sirkeli.ch

Source: Universität Bern [December 02, 2018]

Twelve pieces of ancient mosaics in Bowling Green State University’s art collection are being packed for their return to the Republic of Turkey. Representatives of BGSU and the Turkish government marked the return of the artifacts at a news conference Nov. 20 in the University’s Wolfe Center for the Arts, where the mosaics have been on display.

Bacchanante cut from same floor with cleaned up edges [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

BGSU and the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey reached an agreement for the return of the mosaics last May.

Acquired by the University in 1965, the mosaics had long been thought to have originated in the ancient city of Antioch, in modern-day Turkey. In 2012, research by then-BGSU faculty member Dr. Stephanie Langin-Hooper and Dr. Rebecca Molholt of Brown University suggested that the mosaics did not come from Antioch, but instead were from the ancient city of Zeugma, also in Turkey.

Mosaic of Pan [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Mask Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

That new research raised questions about both the origin of the mosaics and the circumstance of their excavation prior to BGSU’s acquisition, as some mosaics from Zeugma were removed through unauthorized excavation and put into the international art market. Additional research and consultation with scholars, art experts and representatives from the Republic of Turkey have confirmed that the mosaics are very likely from Zeugma and that the provenance of the pieces prior to BGSU’s acquisition will likely never be known.

Under the agreement, the mosaics will be returned to the Republic of Turkey to be exhibited at the world-renowned Zeugma Mosaic Museum in the city of Gaziantep. This will allow the historic artifacts to be appreciated and studied where they originated and be enjoyed by a much wider audience. According to BGSU President Rodney Rogers, this was a key consideration for the University.

Mask Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Bird panel with geometric and floral fragment [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

“As a public university, we have a special obligation to contribute to the public good. That obligation extends to the global community,” Rogers said. “The preservation and care of the mosaics has been a priority for BGSU for the last 53 years. We have relied upon the expertise of scholars to guide us, both when we acquired the pieces and now. Thanks to the work of Dr. Langin-Hooper and others, it is clear today that the best place for these precious artifacts is back in the Republic of Turkey at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum. We greatly appreciate the collegiality of the Turkish Ministry of Culture in working with us through this process.”

The Directorate is paying for the costs of the transfer and BGSU will be receiving high-quality replicas of the mosaics.

Owl Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Bird Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

The University acquired the mosaics for about $35,000 under the direction of then-BGSU President William Jerome and faculty in the BGSU School of Art. The limited records available show that the University purchased the artwork from Peter Marks, of the New York gallery Peter Marks Works of Art. The University acquired the mosaics in compliance with the law at the time and it made the purchase in good faith.

Since acquiring the mosaics, the University has had them restored and constructed a permanent display for them in The Wolfe Center for the Arts.

Zeugma mosaics installed at BGSU's Wolfe Center for the Arts [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Dr. Langin-Hooper is currently an assistant professor and Karl Kilinski II Endowed Chair of Hellenic Visual Culture in the Department of Art History at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Molholt passed away in 2014.

Source: Bowling Green State University [December 02, 2018]

A sarcophagus belonging to the Late Roman period was found after a flood in what is today Turkey's Bodrum district of Muğla.

Credit: AA

Experts from the Museums Directorate and the municipality have started working in the area to date the sarcophagus and gather more details.

The sarcophagus and its contents were taken under protection by the Directorate of Museum Directors.

Credit: AA

Editor's Note

Before 1923 some 3000 Greeks were living in the small city of Muğla (Mogolla) which then belonged to the district of Smyrna. Today, it is the centre of the district of the same name, as well as of Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's southwestern coast.

Bodrum Castle, constructed on the site of much earlier ancient fortifications, was built by the Knights of St. John in the 15th century and derives its name from the medieval Greek Petronion. In classical antiquity Bodrum was known as Halikarnassos.

Source: Anadolu Agency [November 30, 2018]

Some of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy.

Some of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. Animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to mark dates and events such as comet strikes, analysis from the University of Edinburgh suggests [Credit: Alistair Coombs]

The artworks, at sites across Europe, are not simply depictions of wild animals, as was previously thought. Instead, the animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, analysis suggests.

They reveal that, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of how the position of the stars slowly changes over thousands of years.

The findings suggest that ancient people understood an effect caused by the gradual shift of Earth's rotational axis. Discovery of this phenomenon, called precession of the equinoxes, was previously credited to the ancient Greeks.

Around the time that Neanderthals became extinct, and perhaps before mankind settled in Western Europe, people could define dates to within 250 years, the study shows.

The findings indicate that the astronomical insights of ancient people were far greater than previously believed. Their knowledge may have aided navigation of the open seas, with implications for our understanding of prehistoric human migration.

Some of the world's oldest art has revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. Animal symbols, such as those used at Gobekli Tepe in modern day Turkey, represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to mark dates and events such as comet strikes, analysis from the University of Edinburgh suggests [Credit: Alistair Coombs]

Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Kent studied details of Palaeolithic and Neolithic art featuring animal symbols at sites in Turkey, Spain, France and Germany.

They found all the sites used the same method of date-keeping based on sophisticated astronomy, even though the art was separated in time by tens of thousands of years.

Researchers clarified earlier findings from a study of stone carvings at one of these sites - Gobekli Tepe in modern-day Turkey - which is interpreted as a memorial to a devastating comet strike around 11,000 BC. This strike was thought to have initiated a mini ice-age known as the Younger Dryas period.

They also decoded what is probably the best known ancient artwork - the Lascaux Shaft Scene in France. The work, which features a dying man and several animals, may commemorate another comet strike around 15,200 BC, researchers suggest.

The team confirmed their findings by comparing the age of many examples of cave art - known from chemically dating the paints used - with the positions of stars in ancient times as predicted by sophisticated software.

Some of the world's oldest art has revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. Animal symbols, such as the Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave, represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to mark dates and events such as comet strikes, analysis from the University of Edinburgh suggests [Credit: Oleg Kuchar Museum Ulm, Germany]

The world's oldest sculpture, the Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave, from 38,000 BC, was also found to conform to this ancient time-keeping system.

This study was published in Athens Journal of History.

Dr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who led the study, said: "Early cave art shows that people had advanced knowledge of the night sky within the last ice age. Intellectually, they were hardly any different to us today.

"These findings support a theory of multiple comet impacts over the course of human development, and will probably revolutionise how prehistoric populations are seen."

Source: University of Edinburgh [November 27, 2018]