6 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Persian-era plaster walls were discovered during excavations at Zeyve Höyük in central Turkey

This year’s excavations at Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük (Zeyve Mound) near the Porsuk village of the Ulukışla district of Niğde, located in the center of Turkey, uncovered the plaster walls of the Persian period.

The works in Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük, which started in 1968 with the permission of the French Archeology Institute from the Turkish authorities, continue this year as well.

During the excavations carried out in the previous years, Hittite hieroglyphs inscribed on sandstone dating to the 8th century BC, fortification and watchtowers used as garrison in the Hittite period, and castle walls and plaster remains from the Iron Age were unearthed. During this year’s excavations, walls made of gypsum stone belonging to the Persian period were found.

Head of the Excavation Team, University Polytechnique Hauts-de-France Lecturer Associate Dr. Claire Barat, said that a team of 15 people from the USA, France, Italy, and Turkey worked on this year’s excavations.

Stating that they were excavating the highest part of the mound, Barat told that they also cleaned the adobe fortification walls of the Iron Age in the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

Plaster walls belonging to the Persian period were found at Zeyve mound in Nigde province. Photo: Saniye Haber

The plaster walls of the Persian Period have been reached

Stating that they will carry out conservation work on these walls next year, Barat said:

“Sometime after the Iron Age walls were built, the wall facade was covered with gypsum stones and stone filling. These stone structures were used in the Persian and Achaemenid periods in the 6th and 4th centuries BC. It is very important because there are few artifacts from the Persian period in the Cappadocia region. This is an extremely strategic region in the Hittite period as well as in the later periods. Presumably, the area was occupied by a local ruler at that time. From here, the main road from Sinop to Tarsus and passing through the Cilician gates is controlled.”

Barat also added that during the excavations, they learned that these walls were surrounded by the Romans and suffered a fire.

The walls were later repaired and occupied by the Romans. For this reason, it is thought that southern Cappadocia came under Roman domination not peacefully, but as a result of a fierce war.

Noting that the mound is very important in terms of its location, Barat emphasized that the destruction of the stone walls during this year’s excavations showed the violence of the Roman attack and that all previous levels were destroyed.

Noting that the Persian walls found here are like those in Persepolis, Cyprus, and Palestine, Barat added that the researchers are continuing.

Related Articles

Do Byzantine coins Record the Supernova of 1054?

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

SN 1054 was one of the most spectacular astronomical events of all time. The supernova explosion eventually formed what is...

Dog Kajtuś uncovers Poland’s biggest treasure of the past 100 years

21 April 2022

21 April 2022

A dog named Kajtuś discovered the biggest treasure found in Poland in the last 100 years. The treasure was found...

China’s ancient water pipes show people mastered complex engineering 4,000 years ago without the need for a centralized state authority

16 August 2023

16 August 2023

A system of ancient ceramic water pipes, the oldest ever unearthed in China, shows that neolithic people were capable of...

Serbian Archaeologists Unearth Roman Triumphal Arch Dedicated to Emperor Caracalla

24 January 2024

24 January 2024

Archaeologists in Serbia have unearthed an ancient Roman triumphal arch dating back to the third century at Viminacium, a Roman...

Altar site for Greek goddess Demeter unearthed in Turkey’s ancient city of Blaundus

21 December 2021

21 December 2021

An altar site for the Greek goddess Demeter was unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Blaundus,...

The colored skeletons of Çatalhöyük provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago

18 March 2022

18 March 2022

New research provides new insights into how the inhabitants of the “oldest city in the world” in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried...

The Oldest Known Map of Europe, “Saint-Bélec Slab”

6 April 2021

6 April 2021

An ornate Bronze Age stone slab (Saint-Bélec slab) that was excavated in France in 1900 and forgotten about for over...

The Life of the Maya Ambassador Found in El Palmar was not Easy

18 March 2021

18 March 2021

El Palmar is a small plaza compound in Mexico near the borders of Belize and Guatemala. Archaeologists Kenichiro Tsukamoto and...

Archaeologists Unearth Carolingian Silver Treasure Hoard

6 May 2021

6 May 2021

A silver treasure hoard from the 9th century AD has been discovered in Poland‘s Osa and Drwęca basin. The hoard...

A new Archaeological Site has been Discovered in Oman

7 July 2021

7 July 2021

Oman‘s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism recently discovered an ancient site in the town of Al Khobar, Sumail Province, Al...

Stone reliefs describing the Persian-Greek wars were found in the ancient city of Daskyleion in northwestern Turkey

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

A relief depicting a fifth-century BC battle between the Greeks and Persians was discovered in the ancient city of Dascylium...

Study refutes previous assumptions, DNA evidence rewrites story of people buried in Pompeii eruption

8 November 2024

8 November 2024

Researchers from the University of Florence, Harvard University, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig analyzed the...

Saudi Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Islamic Musnad inscription and a bronze bullhead

18 February 2023

18 February 2023

Saudi archaeologists have discovered the longest pre-Islamic Musnad inscription -of the ancient south Arabian script- and three gold rings and...

An inscription containing 15 headless falcons and unknown ancient rituals found in an ancient Egyptian temple

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a shrine containing previously unknown ancient rituals during excavations at Berenike, a Greco-Roman port in Egypt’s eastern...

A new magnetic survey of the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad has revealed a 127-room villa twice the size of the U.S. White House

26 December 2024

26 December 2024

Archaeologists in northern Iraq have conducted an extensive magnetic survey using an exhaustive magnetic survey at Khorsabad, once the ancient...