New mosaics unearthed in ancient city of Zeugma

Hurriyet Daily News ^ | November 4, 2014 | Anadolu Agency

[SunkenCiv]

Three new mosaics have been unearthed during the Muzalar House excavations in the ancient city of Zeugma in Turkey's southern province of Gaziantep.

The uncovered mosaics were displayed at a press conference attended by Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin and the head of the excavations, Professor Kutalmış Görkay...

“There are still unexcavated areas. There are rock-carved houses here. We have reached one of these houses and the house includes six spaces. We have also unearthed three new mosaics in this year’s excavations,” he said.

Görkay added that with the end of the excavation season, the most important stage had now started.

“From now on, we will work on restoration and conservation. We plan to establish a temporary roof for long-term protection. We estimate that the ancient city has 2,000-3,000 houses. Twenty-five of them remain under water. Excavations will be finished in the Muzalar House next year,” he said.

The professor said the annual budget for the excavations changed every year, but a total of about 7 million Turkish Liras had been spent on the excavations since 2005.

Mayor Şahin said the region’s history, which included empires such as the Romans, the Hittites, the Assyrians and the Byzantines, was "as old as the history of mankind."

“They did not think of roads, water and infrastructure only, but they attached importance to revealing cultural values. This is the city of industry and trade and also deserves to be a city of culture and tourism. This is our mission. I hope we will be able to unearth the whole civilization of Zeugma,” she added...

Meanwhile, the media presentation event for the three newly uncovered mosaics drew the ire of Turkish social media users, after pictures emerged showing officials, including Şahin, stepping on the ancient works in their shoes.

[Fresh Wind]

Family photo album, I presume?

[zeugma]

The archeologists dug the earth, as well as the acclaim they received.

Good one!

Can't believe I hadn't seen this. The Zeugma mosaics are most excellent. It is unfortunate that so many will be lost because of the dam.

[colorado tanker]

I checked this out and the place is really close to Syria. It would be just like that ISIS scum to vandalize the place and sell the stuff on the black market.

[SunkenCiv]

Cool, I hope the prices are reasonable. :’) I mean, seriously, tourism in Turkey? There are plans to turn the St Sophia back into a mosque (it’s been a museum for some years), and the Anatolian (pre-Greek) sites are mostly destroyed now. The Pamummkale mineral springs can’t be moved somewhere else, but basically they’re not worth a trip by themselves.

[SunkenCiv]

The public spaces of the Roman Empire tended to not spend a lot of cash on the floor decoration, but it wasn’t unheard of, either. Most of these mosaic floors are either from private homes, or are from the Byzantine era when they put them in churches.