Mosaics Revealed in Fourth-Century Church in Turkey

MARDIN, TURKEY—Abdulgani Tarkan of the Mardin Museum told the Anadolu Agency that a team of excavators has uncovered the mosaic floors in a 1,600-year-old Christian church discovered last year in southeastern Turkey. The images on the floors include a nine-line inscription written in the ancient Syriac alphabet. “The mosaics are also decorated with animal depictions, geometric ornaments, and human figures, including scenes depicting people…hunting,” Tarkan explained. Some of the images also reveal how public religious worship was performed. To read about the remains of a fifth-century basilica found underwater in Lake Iznik, Turkey, go to “Sunken Byzantine Basilica,” one of ARCHAEOLOGY’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2014.