5,000-year-old tomb in Istanbul is the 'biggest archaeological discovery' of the year
The Istanbul Archaeology Museum announced on Monday, May 16 that they have unearthed a "kurgan-style" tomb, which is now being declared as the "biggest archaeological discovery" this year.
Hurriyet Daily News quoted the excavation report describing the tomb that was discovered in Istanbul's Silivri district as "the first and oldest 5,000-year-old kurgan-style tomb that has been discovered and completely unearthed in Turkey."
Excavations began in December 2015 in a summer residence complex in Canta village.
"Thrace received migrations from the north. This is a kurgan-style tomb and such tombs exist in my studies, too," Professor Mehmet Özdoğan from Istanbul University's Department of Archeology told Hurriyet Daily News. "I know that lots of kurgan tombs have been destroyed in Thrace. We have rescued one of them from the digger. But this tomb is older and is from the Bronze Age. It is a very important discovery. I believe scientific examinations will lead to interesting results."
The professor was also able to find the same kind of kurgan-style tomb in 1980 in the Taslicabayir field in Asilbeyli village, located in the northwestern province of Kirklareli. However, the latest discovery is not only much more ancient but is also considered as the first tumulus to be excavated in a completely intact state. Archaeologists expect that this archaeological find would lead them to new understanding about the history of Istanbul and Thrace.
According to Daily Sabah, the First Istanbul Board for the Protection of Cultural Artifacts submitted a report in April stating that the burial mound most probably belongs to a prominent soldier or warrior from the Bronze Age who originated from the north, as indicated by the spearhead buried along with him.
Hurriyet Daily News describes a kurgan as a circular tumulus constructed over a pit grave that usually contains grave vessels, weapons, bodies of horses, and a human body, and is considered a sacred burial in Turkic and Altay culture. This one is six meters wide and has a rectangular interior. The skeleton on stony ground, lying with two earthenware pots considered as gifts for the dead, is in a fetal-like position.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museum has already submitted a request for the registration and transfer of the tomb field. The museum plans to display the tomb with all its pieces in the Thrace and Istanbul findings section.
