23 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A mosaic made by the freed slave to thank God was found in the church excavation

During the season excavation of the 6th-century Holy Apostles Church, located in an orange grove in the Arsuz district of Hatay in southern Turkey, after a slave was free, a mosaic he made to for the Thank God was unearthed.

Excavations continue in the area where the Church of the Apostles is the site, which Mehmet Keleş discovered while trying to plant orange saplings in his garden in Arpaciftlik district in 2007.

Archaeologists excavated in the region this season and found an area with mosaics, including a peacock figure and an inscription in which a slave thanked the god after being freed.

Ayşe Ersoy, Director of Hatay Archeology Museum, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Hatay attracts attention with its history, nature, and culture and that Arsuz district has had an important place as a port city since ancient times.

Archaeologists excavated in the region this season and found an area with mosaics, including a peacock figure and an inscription in which a slave thanked the god after being freed.
Archaeologists excavated in the region this season and found an area with mosaics, including a peacock figure and an inscription in which a slave thanked the god after being freed. Photo: AA

Ersoy stated that the church and mosaics reached in the area found by the person who wanted to plant orange saplings in her garden are important in terms of clarifying the 6th and 12th centuries of the city.

Ersoy continued his words as follows:

There are peacocks and an inscription on the mosaic.
There are peacocks and an inscription on the mosaic. Photo: AA

“A three-naved basilica church being unearthed here. There are mosaics on the floor of the church. We learned from an inscription that this church was named the church of the three apostles. A different mosaic area was unearthed during the excavations carried out this year. A mosaic made by a slave to thank the god after his emancipation was unearthed. There were peacocks and an inscription on the mosaic. The mosaic depicts heaven.”

Ersoy stated that there may be a large settlement in the area where the church is located, and therefore excavations will continue in the region.

Related Articles

Nine Ancient Patolli Games Found in Mexico

10 September 2024

10 September 2024

In recent rescue excavations in Mexico by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) nine patolli engravings...

On a 5,300-year-old skull, archaeologists find evidence of the first known ear surgery

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

Humans may have begun performing ear surgery more than 5,000 years ago, say Spanish archaeologists. Spanish researchers say the skull...

In Poland’s “Death Valley,” new evidence of Nazi atrocities

18 August 2021

18 August 2021

In October 1939, between 30,000 and 35,000 Polish intellectuals, Polish civilians, Jews and Czechs, and German prisoners from psychiatric institutions...

Researchers Define the Borders of El Argar, the First State-Society in the Iberian Peninsula

18 March 2025

18 March 2025

Recent research conducted by scholars from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology...

New Study Reveals Ancient Secrets of the 3,600-year-old Nebra Sky Disc

2 December 2024

2 December 2024

Discovered in 1999 in Germany, the Nebra Sky Disc is the oldest known depiction of the cosmos. A recent examination...

Archaeologists Discovered 8,200-year-old Eyeliner in Türkiye’s Yeşilova Höyük

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

During the archaeological excavations in Yeşilova Höyük (Yeşilova Mound) in Bornova district of Izmir, an 8,200-year-old kohl made of stone...

A Roman tomb where magical nails were used to fend off the ‘restless dead’ has been discovered in Türkiye

15 March 2023

15 March 2023

In the ancient city of Sagalassos in southwestern Türkiye, archaeologists have identified an unusual burial practice from the early Roman...

Researchers find the earliest record of aurora in old Chinese documents

15 April 2022

15 April 2022

Researchers have found the oldest known reference to a candidate aurora in a celestial event, described in an ancient Chinese...

2700-year-old Ancient Blacksmith Workshop Unearthed in Oxfordshire

6 February 2024

6 February 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a “master blacksmith’s” Iron Age workshop in South Oxfordshire, a local government center in the ceremonial county...

Scientists have developed a new tool that enables them to identify prehistoric and historic individuals’ relatives up to the sixth-degree

24 December 2023

24 December 2023

A new method of genetic analysis makes it possible to determine family relationships of prehistoric and historical individuals up to...

‘Mysterious’ inscription on ancient Dacia sphinx is deciphered

3 January 2024

3 January 2024

The mystery of the inscription on the bronze sphinx statue discovered in the early 19th century was solved 200 years...

Intricate Design Revealed on 1100-Year-Old Gold-Inlaid Ritual Spear from Japan’s Island of the Gods

13 June 2025

13 June 2025

A recent archaeological breakthrough on Japan’s sacred Okinoshima Island has unveiled an ornately decorated iron spear from the late Kofun...

Unique Gems found in Claterna, known as the ‘Pompeii of the North’

18 November 2023

18 November 2023

Italian archaeologists have unearthed 50 unique jewels during ongoing excavations at Claterna, the ancient Roman site known as the ‘Pompeii...

A Circular Structure Linked to the Cult of Kukulcán Discovered in Mexico

2 November 2023

2 November 2023

A team of researchers with the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has unearthed the remains of a...

‘Astonishingly Preserved’ Ancient Roman Well Found in Cambridgeshire was An Engineering Failure

22 August 2024

22 August 2024

In an excavation at the site of future highway improvements in Cambridgeshire, the team from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)...