Archaeologists have uncovered a rock tomb in the courtyard of a house in the Şanlıurfa province in southeastern Turkey, a discovery that officials say sheds new light on the region’s ancient history.
The find was announced on social media by Hasan Şıldak, the governor of the province, who said the discovery was made as part of Şanlıurfa’s ongoing Cultural Inventory Project, a comprehensive survey of heritage sites across the area.
The single-chamber tomb is believed to be roughly 2,300 years old, according to the website Anatolian Archaeology.
A look inside a single-chamber tomb believed to be roughly 2,300 years old, found in Turkey. Photo courtesy of Hasan Şıldak on Twitter.
Şıldak said that one wall features a relief of a man with his left arm outstretched. There are also reliefs of two winged women and other subjects in different parts of the room.
“On the inside of the entrance door there is an inscription made of ocher but cannot be read due to damage,” Şıldak said. He added that the rock tomb, recorded for the first time, has a “different appearance” from similar ones documented to date.
The Cultural Inventory Project, led by experts from the governorship and partner universities, plans to document around 6,000 cultural artifacts and locations with detailed descriptions and images, according to the Turkiye Today newspaper.
A rock tomb found in Turkey features reliefs of two winged female figures carved into its corners. Photo courtesy of Hasan Şıldak on Twitter.
“Without documentation, the loss becomes irreversible,” project coordinator Gülriz Kozbe has previously said, emphasizing that a thorough inventory will help protect these treasures from future threats.
The exact circumstances around the discovery of the tomb beneath the home’s courtyard were not detailed. But it is exactly the type of cultural asset the survey was designed to preserve.
A rock tomb found in Turkey features reliefs of two winged female figures carved into its corners. Photo courtesy of Hasan Şıldak on Twitter.
The centerpiece of the tomb is a carved relief on one of the tomb’s walls of a reclining man resting on his left arm, a possible “banquet pose” that is a common in ancient funerary art. There are also reliefs of two winged female figures carved into the tomb’s corners. The figures stand out with outstretched wings and flowing robes.
The presence of these motifs alongside the reclining figure hints at complex funerary rituals, where guardians or emissaries of the afterlife were depicted watching over the tomb’s occupant.
Credit: Artnet
