We often write in ‘Science Notes’ about how technology is revolutionising many aspects of archaeology, but this column rarely touches on conservation. This is one of the areas, however, where technological advances are having some of the biggest impacts, with…
Recent excavations at the ancient city of Savatra, in the Karatay district of Konya, central Turkey, have uncovered an impressive altar in the site’s theatre complex, which is believed to date to the Roman period. The altar is decorated with…
An exhibition at the James Simon Gallery – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin explores the art and architecture of the first settled cultures in south-eastern Turkey.
The ruins of ancient Phaselis occupy a striking setting on the Mediterranean shore. Matthew Symonds visited to find out more.
If you happen to be among the many people who are born and raised in the countryside, chances are that you have found yourself at some point in your life quarrelling about city people who seemed to imagine themselves to be naturally more innovative and progressive than the rest of humankind, your good self included.
A c.12,000-year-old stone pillar decorated with a human face has been found at the archaeological site of Karahan Tepe in Turkey. Karahan Tepe is a Pre-pottery Neolithic ritual complex that forms part of the Taş Tepeler group of prehistoric sites…
Continuing our series on Imperial Germany’s Great War allies, Graham Goodlad reveals how defeat led to the end of an empire.
Aidan Dodson looks at material in Istanbul linking ancient Egypt with the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
A chance discovery at Liman Tepe prompted a pioneering archaeological project that is setting the submerged portions of this ancient city alongside its remains on dry land. Evidence won from the sea is revealing new stories about how a major emporium evolved over the millennia, as Vasıf Sahoglu explained to Matthew Symonds.
Early piercings A study recently published in Antiquity () has identified more than 100 ornaments used in body perforation as early as 11,000 years ago. The artefacts come from burials at the Neolithic site of Boncuklu Tarla, in Turkey, and…
For over 30 years a pioneering project has investigated the prehistory of the Izmir region of Turkey. What has it discovered? Vasıf Şahoğlu told Matthew Symonds an epic tale of rise and fall, connectivity and technology, and the long shadows cast by devastating natural disasters.
If the past is a foreign country – as the novelist L.P. Hartley famously suggested in the opening line to The Go-Between (1953) – then prehistory is surely a whole other world entirely. With little physical evidence often to guide…
The Konya Plain presents an extraordinary glimpse of what the shift from a mobile existence to Neolithic lifestyles could mean for individuals. Douglas Baird, Ian Hodder, and Michele Massa share some exciting results from the long-running investigations of a set of sites in central Anatolia.
• ‘The city thirsts’: the most extensive water supply system in the ancient world
• The Priest of Pututus: a unique Andean tomb
• Conjuring Mongolian deer stones: seeking the meaning of enigmatic monoliths
• The man in the parcel: unravelling a mortuary mystery
• Ireland: the prehistoric passage tombs of Knowth and Newgrange
The discovery was made during excavations that uncovered two separate clusters of Pre-Pottery Neolithic buildings at the site.
Today, Istanbul – formerly Constantinople – is Europe’s largest metropolis, having grown dramatically in size since the 1970s to reach a population in excess of 17 million. But despite the gleaming modern towers, busy expressways and seemingly endless urban sprawl,…
As the British Institute at Ankara celebrates a major birthday, CWA casts an eye over what it has achieved, and where it is heading.
Supplying Constantinople with water was a monumental challenge that received a monumental solution. Examining the extraordinary remains of aqueducts, bridges, and cisterns reveals the ingenuity – and expense – committed to sating a thirsty ancient metropolis, as James Crow explains.
A new museum in Van, Turkey, explores the rich history of the area. Nick Kropacek visited to find out more.
A long-lost Roman emperor. Who could resist such a headline? The media lapped it up. But how could anyone lose an emperor in the first place? It turns out that this emperor was self-declared, so he wasn’t really an emperor at all
Excavations in the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey have uncovered the remains of early Byzantine shops and businesses. Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) working this year in Domitian Square, next to the Upper Agora, focused their…
The relief panels depict interactions between humans and the animal world.
Researchers have successfully traced the origin of tin ingots found aboard the shipwreck to ore deposits in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Archaeologists working in Ephesus, Turkey, have uncovered a new section of the ancient city: a business and gastronomical district dating to the early Byzantine period. The discovery was made by researchers from the Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW (Austrian Academy…
This ruined city had richly carved monumental gateways and, even more significant, an 8th-century BC stela that, bearing the same text in both the Phoenician alphabet and Luwian hieroglyphics, gave Çambel the key to unlock the Luwian language for future scholars.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological news from across the globe.
Between c.900 and 600 BC, the Neo-Assyrian empire expanded across south-eastern Anatolia, establishing rule over many Aramean city-states, and using Assyrian art to express and consolidate their power.
Research into an intriguing rock relief recorded in the subterranean chambers is revealing details about religion and style in the region during the Neo- Assyrian Empire.
Access to the sea can be a double-edged sword. Recent archaeological work at Çeşme in Turkey has revealed that its Bronze Age inhabitants learnt this lesson the hard way. Vasıf Şahoğlu and Beverly Goodman-Tchernov told Matthew Symonds how a natural disaster ushered in dramatic change, both at Çeşme and further afield.
Likely created around 900-600 BC, the relief represents a rare example of Neo-Assyrian monumental rock art.
From buttons to artillery shells, a range of items from battlefields have been transformed – often by soldiers – into powerful and personal pieces of ‘trench art’. Nicholas J Saunders explores some of the human stories of life and death sealed within these creations.
It contains personal information in Latin regarding a soldier’s service in the Roman army, and is believed to be exactly 1,898 years old.
William Pars’s poetic images of the ruins he encountered on an expedition to Ionia and Athens helped shape the taste for Greek styles in 18th-century Britain. Louise Stewart takes us on a journey to Ionia through the eyes of this young artist.
When hotel construction work unearthed extraordinary mosaics, the owners decided to create a new archaeological park. It showcases what is believed to be the largest known surviving Roman mosaic, as well as some stunning mythological scenes. Anthony Beeson puts us in the picture.
In the last decade, Göbekli Tepe has gradually moved into the focus of public interest, as seen in the increasing numbers of visitors, a trend that broke off in 2015 following the spread of conflict to nearby parts of northern Syria.
This site of Boncuklu (8500-7500 BC) is representative of the first farming villages in the Konya Plain of central Anatolia.