2,000-year-old statues unearthed in Turkey’s western Uşak province

Two statues believed to be dating back to 2,000 years were unearthed during excavation works in the ancient Roman city of Blaundus in western Turkey.

Blaundus, also known as Blaundos, was first built by Macedonians that came to Anatolia, present-day Turkey, following the military campaign of Alexander the Great.

The ruins of the ancient city, located in what is now the Ulubey district of Uşak province, was later occupied by the Romans.

Digging work to unearth the city, which started in 2018, is currently focused on the area where a temple dedicated to the Greek mythological goddess Demeter is located.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Birol Can, a faculty member of the Archeology Department of Uşak University, said the team has found two statues in the courtyard of the temple located in the centre of the city.

Can, who is leading the excavation, said one of the discovered statues was 185 centimetres (6 feet) tall with no head, while the other was missing its head, right arm and both legs.

“We don’t know yet whether the statues are from the temple site or from street-side honorifics,” he said, adding that further research on the discovery was ongoing.

“Both finds are male marble statues. We have not yet determined who they are – whether they are gods, emperors, or statesmen,” Can said.

Noting that the statues may have been inspired and created in the Roman-era style, he said: “We can say that the art of sculpture has been at its peak since the second half of the fourth century B.C.”

Australian Aboriginal symbols found on mysterious 12,000-year-old pillar in Turkey—a connection that could shake up history

Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is a 12,000-year-old megalithic monument complex, the origins of which have stumped archaeologists since its discovery about 20 years ago.

It has caused archaeologists to rethink their understanding of “primitive” society at that time.

The sophistication of a society that could build such monuments—containing pillars weighing 45 to 65 tons and carved with intricate symbols and figures—far surpasses what most archaeologists thought possible for that period.

It may have been created by a society that was wiped out by a cataclysmic event.

Carvings at the site may depict a comet that caused massive global climate shifts, a cataclysmic event that wiped out the civilization responsible for Göbekli Tepe.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh published a paper to this effect last year in the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.

From about 14,500 to 11,500 years ago, a period known as the Younger Dryas, the world experienced dramatic climate shifts.

The shift at the end of the Younger Dryas was particularly abrupt, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Archaeologists have agreed that Göbekli Tepe is at least 12,000 years old, placing it within this period.

The site was rapidly buried about 1,000 years after its creation. Whether this was done intentionally by people or by nature is a matter of debate. Some have theorized that society wanted to protect the monuments from the cataclysm.

Researcher and author Bruce Fenton now presents a theory that Göbekli Tepe was built by Australian Aborigines.

Fenton focused his cross-cultural analysis on Göbekli Tepe and the Arnhem Land area in northern Australia. He found many shared symbols and motifs.

For example, the lead photo of this article shows a symbol on a pillar at Göbekli Tepe, and the same symbol is painted on an Australian Aboriginal elder’s chest. This symbol is held by the Aborigines to depict two people sitting to share knowledge.

Fenton has found what he says are clearly Aboriginal churinga stones, sacred objects, at Göbekli Tepe.

On another pillar, Fenton has identified a symbol usually reserved for the most sacred artefacts of the Australian Aboriginal culture, churinga stones.

He has also found what he believes are churinga stones at other 12,000-year-old sites in Turkey thought to be connected to the Göbekli Tepe culture.

They display the concentric circles characteristically used by Aboriginals to depict watering holes, and the zig-zag lines used to depict waterways.

“Many of the animal symbols on the stones relate to Aboriginal clan totems,” Fenton said via email. He has also noticed similarities between the only female figure depicted at Göbekli Tepe and the Aboriginal depictions of Yingarna, the creator.

An ancient culture used Aboriginal shamanism to try and hold back the cataclysm at Göbekli Tepe, says Fenton.

Fenton hypothesizes that the Göbekli Tepe carvings display a characteristically Aboriginal shamanistic attempt to stop the coming cataclysm. He said, “The purpose of the complex was to reverse the flooding underway during the Younger Dryas, by placating the Rainbow Serpent (they assumed this water deity was responsible).”

In a paper on his theory, published in New Dawn magazine, Fenton wrote: “The images at Göbekli Tepe are mostly animals; it is tempting to think that this represented a significant effort by the shamans to call forth the spirits of the animals, many of which had become extinct.”

Remains of a man and dog trying to escape ancient tsunami found on Aegean coast

Roughly 3,600 years ago, the massive Thera volcano in the Aegean Sea blew its top, unleashing massive tsunamis. Now, archaeologists in western Turkey have unearthed the bones of a young man and a dog killed by one of those tsunamis. 

It’s the first time that any victims of the ancient eruption have been found in their archaeological context, and it’s the northernmost evidence found of the tsunamis that followed it.

Archaeological excavations at the site in the town of Çeşme, about 40 miles (70 kilometres) west of the city of Izmer, began more than 10 years ago when construction workers built an apartment complex there found Bronze Age ruins. 

But only recently did researchers realize that the destruction they saw was caused by tsunamis from the Thera eruption, said Vasıf Şahoğlu, an archaeologist at the University of Ankara, who led the excavations from 2009 until 2019 and is the lead author of a new study on the discoveries.

“It took some years, and then everything started to have some meaning,” Şahoğlu told Live Science. “This is going to help us enormously. … We will now be able to interpret everything in a much better way.”

The Thera volcano, which was then at the centre of the resulting archipelago of Aegean islands now known as Santorini, erupted in about 1600 B.C. It was one of the worst natural disasters in human history; scientists estimate the volcano erupted with 2 million times the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, NASA reported. 

The blast wiped out the Minoan town of Akrotiri on the island, and its aftermath may have contributed to the demise of the Minoan civilization on Crete, about 75 miles (120 km) to the south. The volcano’s plume may have been seen in Egypt, and it likely caused a global volcanic winter that reached as far as China. 

Ancient eruption

Despite the widespread devastation and the tens of thousands of people who must have died, the remains from only one death attributed to the eruption have ever been found — those of a man buried by rubble on Santorini, which was discovered in the 19th century, Şahoğlu said.

Many victims of at least four tsunamis that spread across the Mediterranean after the Thera eruption were likely swept out to sea. Archaeologists may also have found other skeletal remains from the cataclysm, but they may have assumed those people were killed by other causes, such as earthquakes, he added.

It can be difficult to see the signs of destruction caused by an ancient tsunami, and often these signs can only be confirmed by the presence of microscopic marine animal fossils, said Beverly Goodman-Tchernov, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa and senior co-author of the study.

Before now, traces of the tsunamis from Thera have been found at only six sites in the Aegean, and Çeşme — about 140 miles (220 km) away — is the most northerly.

The discovery in 2017 of the bones of the man and dog mean the site at Çeşme can serve as a “frozen moment” of life at the time of the eruptions, she said.

The man was about 17 years old when he died; he was killed by one of the tsunami waves and then washed up against a wall in the Bronze Age town. 

The remains of the dog were found nearby, but there is no evidence that the man and the dog were together when they were killed, Goodman-Tchernov said.

Rescue efforts

Interestingly, a pit had been deliberately dug above the man’s body, possibly in an attempt to rescue him or to retrieve his body for a proper burial. Similar pits had been dug elsewhere at the site, apparently soon after one of the earliest tsunami waves, she said.

“We think these are actually the preserved ‘negative spaces’ from where people have come and rescued the injured survivors or removed [the dead],” Goodman-Tchernov told Live Science. “Unfortunately, there was another tsunami wave that came in and filled all of those.”

Şahoğlu said scientific tests would be carried out on the remains, including DNA analysis, to try to learn more about the young man and the dog. Archaeologists will also look for other traces of the tsunami in the area, and the discovery of tsunami destruction at Çeşme should spur experts to reassess the evidence from archaeological sites nearby, he said. 

Today, Çeşme is a thriving resort town on the Aegean coast, and the archaeological site is right beside the town’s popular waterfront. “It was very difficult to work in the middle of one of the most touristic destinations in Turkey,” Şahoğlu said.

But the archaeological work at Çeşme has now concluded, and authorities are now awaiting approval to build a museum above the site to preserve the excavations, he said.

The remains were described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

8,000-year-old female figurine uncovered in central Turkey

An 8,000-year-old statuette of what could be a fertility goddess has been unearthed at a Neolithic site in Turkey, according to archaeologists.

The figurine, discovered at Çatalhöyük in central Turkey, was wrought from recrystallized limestone between 6300 and 6000 B.C. That material is rare for an area where most previously discovered pieces were sculpted from clay, the researchers said.

The archaeologists think this figurine, which is conventionally associated with fertility goddesses, is also representative of an elderly woman who had risen to prominence in Çatalhöyük’s famously egalitarian society.

Goddess figurines were common in the Neolithic period, with those found at Çatalhöyük usually depicting a plump woman with her hair tied in a bun, sagging breasts and a pronounced belly, they said.

The newfound figurine differentiates itself from similar statuettes not only in its material and quality but also in its craftsmanship, according to Ian Hodder, a professor of anthropology at Stanford University who is overseeing the Çatalhöyük site. Hodder said that he “realized immediately that it was a very special find.”

At 6.7 inches tall (17 centimetres) and 4.3 inches (11 cm) wide, the figurine has fine details such as elaborate fat rolls on the limbs and neck.

Unlike other goddess statuettes, the limestone figurine also depicts the woman with her arms separated from her torso and an undercut below the belly to separate it from the rest of the body.

These finer details would have only been possible with thin tools, like flint or obsidian, the researchers said, which suggests that the carving could only have been made by a practised artisan.

With its fine artistry and its discovery in the newer, shallower parts of the site (meaning that it was likely buried later), Hodder said that the figurine might signal a shift from a sharing economy to an exchange economy, where resources could be accumulated unevenly.

“We think society was changing at this time, becoming relatively less egalitarian, with houses being more independent and more based on agricultural production,” Hodder said in a statement.

READ ALSO: 8,000 YEARS OF HISTORY TO RESURFACE AT TURKEY’S TAVŞANLI MOUND

The archaeologists think that the figurine was made after Neolithic Çatalhöyük, where resources were often pooled, changed toward a more stratified society.

The fatness of the goddess statue could represent high status rather than an elevated place in a society of equals, Hodder said.

Whatever the shift, it did not happen overnight. Humans first settled in Çatalhöyük around 7500 B.C., with the society reaching its peak around 7000 B.C., according to archaeologists. The ancient settlement was abandoned around 5700 BC.

Mosaic with slave thanking God for his freedom unearthed in Turkey

A mosaic made by a freed slave to thank God for his emancipation was unearthed during the excavation at the 6th-century Church of the Holy Apostles in southern Hatay province.

The Church of the Holy Apostles was found in an orange grove in the Arpaçiftlik neighbourhood by Mehmet Keleş in 2007.

After Keleş recognized historical artefacts while planting orange saplings in the grove, archaeological digs were launched in the area.

With the disclosure of mosaics, animal figures, stone graves and bone remains, expert teams, determined that the area was a church and its name was the Church of the Holy Apostles.

While digs continue in the historical church, archaeologists have recently found an area with a mosaic. The mosaic with a peacock figure also features an inscription in which a slave thanked God after being freed.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Director of Hatay Archaeology Museum Ayşe Ersoy said that Hatay stands out with its history, nature and culture and the Arsuz district has had an important place in history as a port city since the first century A.D.

READ ALSO: EUROPE’S FIRST FARMERS CAME FROM TURKEY CONFIRMED BY DNA

Noting that the Church of the Holy Apostles and its mosaics are of great importance as they reveal the period between the 6th and 12th centuries in the city, Ersoy continued: “During this year’s excavations at the church, another mosaic area was discovered.

This mosaic made by a slave pictures peacocks and depictions of heaven.”

Europe’s first farmers came from Turkey confirmed by DNA

It was an innovation that changed the course of human history forever, leading to the rise of the first civilisations and transforming the way of life of our ancestors.

Now researchers believe they have pinpointed where the first farmers who spread into Europe 8,000 years ago came from – Anatolia in Turkey. Using ancient DNA from human remains found in the region, a study has been able to trace the lineage of early European farmers back to the Anatolian plateau in Turkey.

They said farmers from Anatolia appear to have moved into Europe around 8,000 years ago, replacing the hunter-gatherer cultures that lived there.

Farming is first thought to have emerged in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean in what is now Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. However, the new findings suggest Anatolia acted as a hub from which the farming revolution then spread.

Anders Götherstörm, head of archaeogenetic research at the archaeological research laboratory at Stockholm University, said: ‘Our results stress the importance Anatolia has had on Europe’s prehistory.

‘But to fully understand how the agricultural development proceeded we need to dive deeper down into material from the Levant.’

The researchers extracted DNA from human remains found at the site of an ancient settlement in Kumtepe in Troas, northwestern Anatolia, in Turkey.

The remains are thought to belong to Neolithic farmers who were among the first inhabitants of the settlement, which eventually gave rise to the city of Troy.

The team behind the study compared the DNA with genetic material from other ancient farmers in Europe along with DNA from modern Europeans.

Ayca Omrak, who was the first author of the research at Stockholm University, said: ‘I have never worked with more complicated material.

‘I could use the DNA from the Kumptepe material to trace the European farmers back to Anatolia.

‘It is also fun to have worked with this material from the Kumtepe site, as this is the precursor to Troy.’

A separate study recently found that a rise in farming and metalwork in Ireland led to a ‘genetic shift’ in the region, fuelled by an influx of people from the Black Sea and the Middle East.

This led to the traits that make Celtic people so distinct to emerge around 4,000 years ago. In particular, the researchers said that the adoption of agriculture led to ‘waves of immigration’ in Ireland which ultimately shifted their genetics.

The study was led by Queens University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. Researchers analysed the DNA of an early Neolithic farmer, a woman who is believed to have lived in the Belfast area 5,200 years ago.

They also analysed the DNA of three men found in Rathlin Island in County Down, who lived 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.

While the early farmer woman more closely resembled people from Southern Europe, with black hair and brown eyes, the later men had blue eyes.

One even had an inherited iron disorder, haemochromatosis, commonly found in Irish people. Elsewhere, the woman’s genome was a ‘genetic cocktail’ of early hunter-gatherer DNA mixed with that of Near East farmers.

It is thought these farmers migrated to the region thousands of years ago, bringing farming to the region in around 3,750 BC. However, the genetic traits found in the Bronze Age males were found to be much closer to modern Irish people.

7,000-year-old fortress wall uncovered in southern Turkey

A fortress wall dating 7,000 years back to the Chalcolithic Age has been unearthed at the Yumuktepe Mound in southern Turkey’s Mersin province. The Yumuktepe Mound is highly significant as a continuous settlement for 9,000 years since the Neolithic Age.

Two and a half months of excavations at the mound are coming to an end on Friday. This year’s excavations focused on the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, were carried out by a 30-person team led by Isabella Caneva – a professor of archaeology at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy.

Caneva said that the 7-meter fortress wall discovered this season can now be shown to the public.

While every year’s excavations have provided historical insights, this year’s dig produced especially “striking” Neolithic and Chalcolithic findings, Caneva said.

Caneva said the layer in Yumuktepe Mound is special in that it contains very special architecture.

The fortress wall was made with a variety of materials, including a 1.5-meter-thick support wall made of limestone at the bottom, 2 meters of well-cut stones and 3 meters of mudbrick.

Previous excavations had discovered the existence of the castle, dating back to 5,000 B.C., but the team did not uncover the wall until this season’s deeper dig in the area.

“We didn’t know that there was such technology in that period in technical terms. Now we see it and it’s a special structure.

There was certainly a special product being made there because a normal village would not require such a thick and solid wall,” Caneva said, explaining that the village is the oldest site in the world known to produce molten copper.

“This is a very important product. Later on, there was a war for metal. It was an important technology and a valuable substance. Tools, flashy objects and weapons were all made with copper,” she said.

The team also discovered that homes in the Neolithic period were built in a certain way, continuously constructed on top of one another, for 2,000 years.

Caneva expressed hopes that the site will be developed into an open-air museum for visitors in the future.

Long-Lost Kingdom Over 3,000 Years Old Stumbled on by Archeologists in Turkey

It was said that all he touched turned to gold. But destiny eventually caught up with the legendary King Midas, and a long-lost chronicle of his ancient downfall appears to have literally surfaced in Turkey.

In 2019, archaeologists were investigating an ancient mound site in central Turkey called Türkmen-Karahöyük. The greater region, the Konya Plain, abounds with lost metropolises, but even so, researchers couldn’t have been prepared for what they were about to find.

A local farmer told the group that a nearby canal, recently dredged, revealed the existence of a large strange stone, marked with some kind of unknown inscription.

“We could see it still sticking out of the water, so we jumped right down into the canal – up to our waists wading around,” said archaeologist James Osborne from the University of Chicago in early 2020.

“Right away it was clear it was ancient, and we recognised the script it was written in: Luwian, the language used in the Bronze and Iron Ages in the area.”

With the aid of translators, the researchers found that the hieroglyphs on this ancient stone block – called a stele – boasted of a military victory. And not just any military victory, but the defeat of Phrygia, a kingdom of Anatolia that existed roughly 3,000 years ago.

The royal house of Phrygia was ruled by a few different men called Midas, but the dating of the stele, based on linguistic analysis, suggests the block’s hieroglyphics could be referring to the King Midas – he of the famous ‘golden touch’ myth.

The stone markings also contained a special hieroglyphic symbolising that the victory message came from another king, a man called Hartapu. The hieroglyphs suggest Midas was captured by Hartapu’s forces.

“The storm gods delivered the [opposing] kings to his majesty,” the stone reads.

What’s significant about this is that almost nothing is known about King Hartapu, nor about the kingdom he ruled. Nonetheless, the stele suggests the giant mound of Türkmen-Karahöyük may have been Hartapu’s capital city, spanning some 300 acres in its heyday, the heart of the ancient conquest of Midas and Phrygia.

“We had no idea about this kingdom,” Osborne said. “In a flash, we had profound new information on the Iron Age Middle East.”

There’s a lot more digging to be done in this ongoing archaeological project, and the findings so far should be considered preliminary for now. The international team is eager to revisit the site this year, to find out whatever more we can about this kingdom seemingly lost in history.

“Inside this mound are going to be palaces, monuments, houses,” Osborne said. “This stele was a marvellous, incredibly lucky find – but it’s just the beginning.”

You can find out more about the research here and here.