A bungled looting scheme has led archaeologists to an underground Iron Age complex in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during the first millennium B.C.
The ancient complex, which has yet to be fully investigated due to the instability of the structure, has rare rock art drawings on its walls depicting a procession of deities. This art style appears to have been adapted by local groups, indicating how strongly the culture of the Neo-Assyrian Empire spread to the people it conquered in this region.
One of the study's authors is Selim Ferruh Adal, an associate professor of ancient history at the Social Sciences University of Ankara.
The ancient underground complex was discovered by looters beneath a house in a Turkish village. The looters had cut through the floor of the two-story house in the village of Başbük, in southern Turkey. The opening that led to the entrance chamber was about 7 by 5 feet and was discovered by the police.
The Gladiator arena was unearthed in Turkey.
The lower gallery and entrance chamber are from the early Neo-Assyrian period, which lasted from the ninth century B.C. The entrance chamber's original opening hasn't been found yet.
The rescue excavation was carried out in August and September. The rescue excavation was suspended because of the instability of the site. Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism protects the area.
The decorative rock relief carved into the wall panel was discovered during the short period of excavation. The panel depicts a procession of gods and goddesses from the Aramean pantheon.
The inscriptions on the panel were found to have great historical significance by the excavators.
There are 4 images, the first one is image 1 and the 2nd one is image 3.
The Assyrian elite used art from their courtly style to express their power over the local Luwian- and Aramaic-speaking peoples.
The wall panel in Başbük shows how Assyrian art was adapted into the Aramaean style in the provincial towns and villages.
According to the study, four of the eight deities depicted on the panel could not be identified. Hadad is the storm, rain and thunder god, his consort Atargatis is a goddess of fertility and protection, and the sun god is the moon god. The earliest depiction of Atargatis, the principal goddess of Syria, is in the drawing.
Adal said in a statement that the inclusion of Syro-Anatolian religious themes illustrate an adaptation of Neo-Assyrian elements in ways that one did not expect from earlier finds.
The deities on the wall panel suggest that it was the location of a regional fertility cult of Aramaean deities with rituals overseen by early Neo-Assyrian authorities. One of those authorities might have been a Neo-Assyrian official who lived during the reign of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III. The researchers found an inscription that might refer to the subject. The researchers said it was possible that he took control of the region and used this complex to win over the locals.
The presence of Neo-Assyrian art in this complex doesn't necessarily mean that the empire's artists created this panel. It is likely that the panel was made by local artists who adapted Neo-Assyrian art in a provincial context.
He said that the team suspects that more areas of the underground complex will be found and that more examples of artwork will be found, as only a small part of the whole site has been explored so far. When the entire site has been prepared, a full-scale excavation is expected to take place.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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