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Live Science reports that a temple discovered in western Turkey may have been built by the Phrygians some 2,700 years ago. The temple is thought to have been dedicated to the Phrygian mother goddess known as Materan, Matar, and Cybele. Bilge Yılmaz Kolancı of Pamukkale University explained that the site features a cave with twin rock idols carved into the rock face between two structures. Libation bowls and drainage channels were also unearthed, she added. To read about another site in the region that the Phrygians once controlled, go to "Who Is That Masked God?"

A researcher says he has deciphered an ancient, heavily damaged inscription carved on a 2,600-year-old monument in Turkey.The monument, which is engraved with images of lions and sphinxes, is known as Arslan Kaya (also spelled Aslan Kaya), which means "lion rock" in Turkish. The inscription spells out the name "Materan," a goddess of the Phrygians, who flourished in what is now Turkey from roughly 1200 to 600 B.C. They knew her "simply as the Mother," Mark Munn, a professor of ancient Greek history and archaeology at Pennsylvania State University who wrote a paper about the inscription, told Live Science in...