Sunken Byzantine Basilica

Top 10 Discoveries of 2014 January/February 2015

Lake Iznik, Turkey
(Mustafa Sahin/Uludag University)
SHARE:

Only 100 miles from Istanbul, the ancient city of Nicaea, on the shores of Turkey’s Lake Iznik, is not remote or unknown. So archaeologist Mustafa Sahin was in for a shock when a routine aerial survey of the lake revealed traces of a fifth-century basilica. “I did not believe my eyes when I saw it under the helicopter,” says Sahin. “I thought to myself, ‘How did nobody notice these ruins before?’” The site is now slated to become an underwater archaeological museum.

MORE FROM Top 10 Discoveries of 2014

  • Top 10 Discoveries of 2014 January/February 2015

    Canada Finds Erebus

    Victoria Strait, Canada

    Read Article
    (Courtesy © Thierry Boyer, Parks Canada)
  • Top 10 Discoveries of 2014 January/February 2015

    Mummification Before the Pharaohs

    York, England

    Read Article
    (Courtesy © Ron Oldfield and Jana Jones)
  • Features January/February 2015

    Shipwreck Alley

    From wood to steel, from sail to steam, from early pioneers to established industry, the history of the Great Lakes can be found deep beneath Thunder Bay

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary/NOAA)
  • Letter From Cambodia January/February 2015

    Storied Landscape

    Through centuries—and perhaps even millennia—of cultural, political, and environmental change, Phnom Kulen has retained its central role in the spiritual life of a people

    Read Article
  • Artifacts January/February 2015

    Bronze Age Dagger

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Anders Rosendahl)
  • Digs & Discoveries January/February 2015

    The Price of Plunder

    Read Article