ANCIENT VILLAGE FOUND IN TURKEY

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1238, 10 July 1947, Page 6

ANCIENT VILLAGE FOUND IN TURKEY

CULTURE 8000 YEARS AGO Archaeologist’s Discoveries

Professor John Garstang, of Liverpool, the well-known archaeologist, described to members of the Society of Antiquaries in London his discoveries in the prehistoric village of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, in Southern Turkey.

The site lies astride the historic trade route linking East with West at a point where the gap between the Taturua Mountains and the Meditenanean narrows to a few miles. It is believed to be the most ancient settlement so far discovered, dating back nearly 8000 years. According to an Arab legend, it was the site of the Gar-den of Eden. Before the last war Professor Garstang had already discovered cultural links between Europe and Asia at Mersin, dating back to 3000 B.C. Now 10 moire occupation levels 1 have been unearthed. The inhabitants’ had, their domesticated animals, cultivated the fields, sowing barley chiefly, and weaved their cloth, but Hie basic industry was the manufacture olf artistic pottery, which was developed to a marked degree. , :j jj-Udfl! .Some of the levels were found to be so rich in so-called Uruk grey wares as to suggest that Mersin had been a distributing centre of the industry. Defensive System A remarkable defensive ’ system was unearthed. Here there were thick outer walls with slit windows for the use of archers, and barrack rooms, abutting against the interior of the main, defences:, formed domestic apartments. Household utensils: of the period were found in abundance. In the interior was a large house more richly furnished, containing important objects, particularly some polychrome pottery in lustrous painting. The foundations of walls l in one of the levels were bagalithic in proportions, and a “door” into one of the corridors was a single blcck of stone weighing several tons. The result of the past season’s work at Mersin means that the whole panorama, of these isolated p l'C-dynasiic cultures stands revealed as a visible picture. Professor Garstang explained in an interview that he and his wife, with other Europeans, engaged in the excavations.

“Every night my wife and I plugged it up the hill,” he said. “Now we hope to settle down. I have closed down for my lifetime, but there is a rich field awaiting the next generation which likes to follow. I am happy to have linked up the very low levels with the upper levels—there are 26 in all—and 20 have established an unbroken sequence, which leaves the results absolutely without question.”