18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

2000-year-old tomb guarded by two bull heads found in Tharsa Ancient City, Türkiye

In Türkiye, archaeologists have discovered a new 2000-year-old tomb protected by two bull heads during excavation and cleaning efforts in the ancient city of Tharsa, located near Kuyulu village on the Adıyaman-Şanlıurfa Highway, now known as Turuş Rock Tombs.

Turuş Rock Tombs belong to the Roman Period. The tombs were built by carving the bedrock from the ground downwards. The tombs are reached after 10-13 steps descending downwards. There are various figures and reliefs on the walls and doorways of some rock tombs.

Tharsa Ancient City, which is home to 60 previously unearthed graves, continues to reveal new finds every day. Excavations in the necropolis area began in 2024, and the team has recently discovered two additional rock tombs.

Turuş Rock Tombs (Tharsa)
Turuş Rock Tombs (Tharsa)

Archaeologists said the bull’s heads were in the grave because of the belief that they would help the grave’s owner cleanse himself of evil spirits.

The bull was the god Jupiter’s symbolic animal. The bull itself represents power and strength, plus a hint of unpredictability. The bull was also a symbol of the city of Athens and was depicted on many Athenian coins as a symbol of the city’s strength and power. In Roman coinage, the bull was often used to symbolize strength and fertility and was associated with the god Mars.

Photo: İHA

The entrance of the tomb, dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods, features two bull heads (bucranium) and garland decorations at the entrance, with a rosette in the center. It comprises three arcosolium.

Mustafa Çelik, Deputy Director of Adıyaman Museum, said, “Tharsa Ancient City consists of 3 main archaeological areas: Big Mound, Small Mound and Necropolis Area. We started excavations in the necropolis area in 2024. We added 2 more rock tombs to the rock tombs we had previously uncovered. One of them is the rock tomb we identified today. This tomb, which consists of a main space and three arcosolium, has 2 bull’s head figures on the upper part of the entrance, which we call bukranyon in ancient times. In the middle part of the bull heads, there are decorations called girlants and rosettes. We continue our efforts to make this region a center of attraction for tourism.”

It is aimed to bring tourism to the region where 60 family cemeteries are located after the excavation works.

Cover Photo: IHA

Related Articles

Giant Prehistoric Rock Engravings Discovered in South America May Be The World’s Largest

5 June 2024

5 June 2024

Researchers made a groundbreaking discovery of what is thought to be the world’s largest prehistoric rock art. Enormous engraved rock...

Thousands of ignored ‘Nummi Minimi’ Coins Found in the Ancient City of Marea in Egypt

11 December 2023

11 December 2023

Numismatists from the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw have examined thousands of previously ignored small coins (Nummi...

Researchers identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old

25 May 2023

25 May 2023

A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume...

Unique 6,000-Year-Old Sacred Hearths and Karaz Pottery Discovered at Tadım Mound in Elazığ

28 March 2025

28 March 2025

Archaeological excavations at Tadım Castle and Tadım Mound (Tadım Höyük), located within the borders of Tadım Village in Elazığ, continue...

Scientists Reconstruct Face Of 16th Century Italian ‘Vampire’ Buried With Brick In Mouth

23 March 2024

23 March 2024

A 16th-century ‘vampire‘ who was buried with a stone brick jammed in her mouth over fears she would feed on...

Ancient Murals of Two-faced Figures Found in Peru

21 March 2023

21 March 2023

Archaeologists are reporting a number of fascinating discoveries as work on the excavations at Pañamarca progresses that are helping to...

Archaeologists Reveals Rare Evidence of Early Human Presence in Tajikistan

6 November 2024

6 November 2024

Archaeologists have discovered a multi-layered archaeological site in the Zeravshan Valley of central Tajikistan that reveals early human settlement in...

Researchers use AI to read words on ancient Herculaneum scroll burned by Vesuvius

13 October 2023

13 October 2023

Researchers used artificial intelligence to extract the first word from one of the first texts in a charred scroll from...

Pictish ring believed to be more than 1,000-years-old found during Burghead fort dig in Scotland

5 September 2024

5 September 2024

A “remarkable” Pictish ring thought to be more than 1,000 years old has been unearthed by an amateur archaeologist on...

Archaeologists explore Eastern Zhou Dynasty mausoleum in China’s Henan

30 January 2022

30 January 2022

An archaeological survey of a royal mausoleum of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 B.C.-256 B.C.) has been launched in central...

New Study Finds, 4,000-Year-Old Toolkit Unearthed Near Stonehenge Was Used to Work Gold

16 December 2022

16 December 2022

Archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton in the United Kingdom recently published a study claiming that enigmatic artifacts...

Ancient helmets, temple ruins found at a dig in Velia southern Italy

1 February 2022

1 February 2022

A discovery that “sheds new light on the history of the mighty Greek colony” by Velia. Archaeologists in southern Italy...

Archaeologists uncovered a 3,500-year-old Egyptian Royal Retreat in the Sinai Desert

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

An Egyptian mission uncovered the ruins of a 3,500-year-old “royal fortified rest area” at the Tel Habwa archaeological site in...

10,000-year-old Settlement Discovered in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa

25 June 2021

25 June 2021

A Neolithic settlement was discovered in the garden of a house in the Sayburç Neighborhood of Şanlıurfa’s Karaköprü district. News...

3,000-Year-Old Hazelnut Shells Discovered in the Sacred Hittite City of Nerik

30 July 2024

30 July 2024

In the sacred Hittite city of Nerik, located in the northern Vezirköprü district of Samsun province in the Central Black...