The romanticism associated with sunken cities and palaces hold true across numerous fables and folklore from around the world. Well, this time around, some researchers were greeted with the 'real stuff' in the form of an allegedly 3000-year old castle beneath Lake Van - the second largest lake in the Middle East, located just within…
People did have sense of humor (with a dash of hedonism) in the 3rd century BC, or around 2,300 years ago. At least that is what is evident from an incredible ancient mosaic recently discovered in Hatay, a Turkish province that just borders Syria from the north. Th artwork in question features a seemingly 'cheerful'…
Archaeologists, working in Turkey, have unearthed an ancient adobe basement that could shed more light on the origins of state system and the secularization of power. Located in Aslantepe in the Malatya province, the site contains the remains of an adobe brick platform, elevated from the ground by means of three steps. According to the…
The oceans are home to some of the most wondrous, and also bizarre, creatures and objects. Like the 770 lb larger-than-a-mini-bus giant squid, caught from the remote Ross Sea of Antarctica. Or the adorable “leaf sheep” sea slug, with beady eyes and floppy feelers, that looks like a cartoon lamb! Equally fascinating, yet stranger perhaps,…
Researchers have stumbled across the oldest stone tool ever found in Turkey, and this small piece of extant evidence provides some insightful data relating to human migrations. According to the experts from Royal Holloway (who collaborated with an international team), the excavated quartzite piece was found along the deposits of the Gediz river, in western…
The site of Karkemish is indeed in an oddly situated location between the borders of present-day Syria and Turkey. And more than just geographical whimsicality, the environment has the unfortunate tag of being politically charged and militarily afflicted, with the area being just meters away from ISIS-controlled territory. In spite of all these seemingly negative…