Ottoman-Era Bathhouse and Tannery Uncovered in Turkey

ANKARA, TURKEY—Hurriyet Daily News reports that a bathhouse and a tannery dated to the Ottoman period have been uncovered in Ankara’s Ancient Roman Theater and Archaeopark. Researchers from the Anatolian Civilizations Museum and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that traces of the bath’s cold, warm, and hot rooms had been symmetrically arranged. They also found a cistern that supplied water to the bath. The tannery was situated in front of the bathhouse. “This area was a significant center throughout the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods, and was home to important public structures,” said Umut Alagöz of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum. “We see that leatherworking, a key industry during the Ottoman era, flourished along the banks of the Hatip Stream. Archaeological evidence shows that this bath house was used by leather merchants,” he explained. The bathhouse is thought to have remained in use into the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. It will be conserved as part of the Archaeopark project, Alagöz concluded. To read about a medieval walled city in southwestern Turkey that came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, go to "Off the Grid: Beçin, Turkey."