Archaeologists conducting a new series of excavations at the ancient Turkish city of Smyrna have uncovered three previously hidden rooms and a 1500-year-old Late Antiquity theater that earlier efforts had missed.
The new excavations, which took place in Izmir’s historic center, also uncovered a series of ancient paintings that had remained hidden for over a millennium, along with a Roman-era water channel that, unlike similar structures, seems to stop before reaching any nearby natural springs.
According to a statement from the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, the work, which was “conducted on behalf of Izmir Katip Celebi University with permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,” expanded on previous excavations at the same site. However, the new excavation effort uncovered several previously unknown finds.
First, the archaeology team came across three new hidden rooms, or “spaces,” in an area where previous efforts had uncovered an ancient mosaic floor. According to the excavation team, two of the new spaces also contained mosaic floors. However, the third newly discovered space featured a marble floor.
Second, the research team uncovered what they described as a “theater area.” Researchers had not identified the theater during previous excavations.
Third, the Izmir authorities described a series of ancient wall paintings as the most visually striking component. According to the Metropolitan Ministry’s statement, the previously undiscovered wall paintings were placed around the Agora and the theater.
“This is the first time we have found wall paintings in these spaces,” explained Prof. Dr. Akin Ersoy, faculty member of the Turkish-Islamic Archaeology Department at Izmir Katip Celebi University and the head of the latest excavations.
When dating the site, Prof. Dr. Ersoy said cities in the region underwent significant structural changes after the division of the Roman Empire at the end of the 4th century A.D. These changes allowed the excavation team to date the site to sometime between the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. This ancient date makes the site over 1,500 years old, placing it in the period historians call Late Antiquity.
When discussing the architectural style of the new excavations, the team leader said they share some features with the Terrace Houses found at the ancient city of Ephesus. The research said the similarities suggest that the newly discovered structures may have served a public function. Still, he noted, these discoveries were unexpected.
“Until now, we had never come across anything like this in the Agora of Smyrna or around the theater.”
Given the likely historical period of the site’s construction and use, the research team also noted that the newly uncovered hidden room spaces and ancient paintings will offer previously unavailable insights into Smyrna’s transformation away from Roman influence.
During the excavations, the team also traced a section of an ancient Roman-era water channel. The researchers suggested that the ancient channel carried water for roughly 2,000 years.
Although Roman-era water channels were typically connected to natural springs, Ersoy said the team has traced roughly 150 yards of channel and has yet to find its source. The team leader suggested a spring may lie just south of the site, near the Namazgah Bath and Kursunlu Mosque.
Future excavations are hoped to uncover more evidence of the ancient spring and perhaps even more hidden rooms and artworks left behind in the 1500-year-old city.
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.
A discovery by archaeologists at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Çemka Höyük in southeastern Turkey is extending the accepted timelines on the origins of ancient ceramic technology.
The discovery, detailed in a new study that appeared in the journal Antiquity, provides some of the earliest evidence yet uncovered for intentionally fired pottery in Southwest Asia. The findings appear to show that the first experimentation with ceramic technology began thousands of years earlier than once believed.
At the heart of the findings are a collection of more than 45 low-fired clay fragments, representing at least nine separate vessels, which researchers unearthed at the site of Çemka Höyük in Mardin Province. The fragments date to approximately 9,350 BC, placing them in a period that predates the widespread adoption of pottery during the seventh millennium BC by nearly two millennia.
The discovery offers an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of ceramic innovation, adding to past discoveries that include early agricultural innovations and remarkably sophisticated monumental architecture associated with famous sites in the region like Göbekli Tepe.
Rather than evidence of full-scale pottery production, the new study by researchers Ergül Kodaş, Natalia Petrova, Maria Daghmehchi, and Rana Özbal argues that a period of experimentation seems to have begun around 11,500 years ago.
The nine vessels represented by the fragments uncovered at Çemka Höyük showcase simple slab-building techniques, where plant material, and even animal dung was sometimes mixed into the source clay to help improve its performance during the firing process. Further analysis of the samples indicated that they were intentionally heated in controlled, low-heat fires that reached temperatures of roughly 600 to 700 degrees Celsius, which produced permanent ceramic transformation, rather than mere accidental burning.
Along with the pottery fragments, archaeologists also discovered an unusual variety of clay objects at Çemka Höyük: a type of clay coating that may have once covered organic objects, along with an attachment formed from the same material that seems to have been used for enlarging the capacity of a vessel made from another material, such as stone or wood.
Altogether, the diversity of the artifacts the team uncovered points to strong evidence that early Neolithic communities in the region were already experimenting with clay in a range of different ways, before the widespread adoption of ceramic technologies for pottery production.
This is significant, since the discoveries challenge existing ideas about the emergence of pottery, which suggested that it was quickly adopted as a fully developed technology.
“This new evidence points to an early implementation and demonstrates that ceramic innovation emerged before widespread production and adoption,” the team writes, “developing regionally and progressively rather than through a single invention event.”
“Our analysis of the fired clay items from Çemka shows that the inhabitants of the site experimented with pottery production by selectively using organic temper, low-temperature firing technologies, and slab-construction techniques,” they add.
The study also places Çemka Höyük within a broader network of early clay experimentation across Southwest Asia. While similar finds have been reported from sites in Türkiye, Syria, Jordan, Iran, and Israel, the Çemka discoveries are now recognized as being among some of the oldest known examples of intentionally fired ceramic technology ever identified in the region.
Even beyond the technical implications of what the team outlines, the new study offers deeper perspectives on the social aspects of such innovations in the ancient world. For instance, to become successful, technologies must offer more than just functionality by becoming ingrained in the everyday lives of a culture.
The evidence suggests that at Çemka Höyük, use of clay underwent gradual transitions from use as a construction material to a medium used for storage and food preparation. This reflects changes in the culinary practices of the era, as well as certain community activities right down to the daily routines of Çemka Höyük’s ancient residents.
Thus, the early experiments outlined in the new study helped to lay the foundation for the sophisticated pottery use and other traditions that would ultimately make their way throughout the region, revolutionizing the ancient Near East with the arrival of one of its earliest technological revolutions.
The team’s new study, “Understanding a first attempt at pottery: early fired containers at Çemka Höyük,” appeared in the journal Antiquity.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
For many centuries, the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos, stood among the tallest constructions on Earth, garnering recognition as one of the famous Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
That all changed beginning in AD 956, and again in 1303, when a series of earthquakes damaged the legendary Pharos, plunging the massive stone used in its construction into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
Now, after more than seven centuries, the third-longest-surviving of the seven ancient wonders is rising again, offering archaeologists clues to the appearance and construction of this historic marvel.
Archaeologists with the PHAROS Project report the recovery of 22 massive blocks from the ancient lighthouse, which have remained at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt’s coast since the monument’s destruction 723 years ago. The international research initiative aims to use its studies of the recovered materials to digitally rebuild the structure, revealing its appearance to the modern world for the first time in centuries.
Originally constructed in the third century BC, the ancient structure stood more than 330 feet tall before the trio of earthquakes that ultimately destroyed it. Before its destruction, the lighthouse guided ships sailing the Mediterranean for more than 1,600 years. At the modern site where the Pharos once stood, the Citadel of Quitbay, which was originally constructed beginning in 1477, features some of the original blocks from the lighthouse.
The remains of the lighthouse have been known to archaeologists for more than a century. First described in 1916 by Gaston Jondet and Raymond Weill, and again in 1940 by Sir Leopold Saville, the lighthouse was officially rediscovered as part of a UNESCO-sponsored expedition in 1968, where archaeologist Honor Frost confirmed the ruins had indeed belonged to the Pharos.
However, political tensions at that time prevented further exploration, and the site remained unexplored for several decades. Then in 1994, imagery was obtained by archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur and cinemaphotographer Asma el-Bakri, which finally offered the world a first look at the massive ancient structure’s remains.
Today, the PHAROS Project, led by Isabelle Hairy, an archaeologist with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, and working in cooperation with the Dassault Systèmes Foundation, has successfully retrieved 22 of the massive stone blocks that once composed the entrance to the lighthouse.
Additional recoveries include portions of doorways, lintels, paving slabs, and other portions of the ancient construction. Retrieving these sunken monoliths has been no small task, as some of the paving slabs alone weigh as much as 88 tons.
Although the recovery of the ancient slabs of stone that once comprised the famous monument is a promising archaeological endeavor, the PHAROS Project’s primary aim is to use knowledge gained from their study to digitally reconstruct the lighthouse.
To achieve this, Hairy and the team plan to scan each of the huge stone blocks using modern cutting-edge photogrammetry, which will be used to create 3D models of the structure’s components. Then these will be studied and assembled digitally, providing one of the clearest views of one of the ancient world’s most imposing structures.
The research builds on close to a decade of previous work that includes the digitization of more than 100 of the lighthouse’s features that remain underwater. Altogether, the digital reassembly of the Pharos will complement existing imagery from the ancient world that depicts the lighthouse, which includes its appearance in ancient artwork, currency from the time when the Pharos was still in use, and mosaics.
Additionally, historical accounts that preserve written descriptions, like those of Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi, an Arab traveler who visited Alexandria in 1166 and produced one of the most complete descriptions of the structure, will be used as part of the reconstruction effort.
Together, these combined sources of information will allow Hairy and the PHAROS Project team to reconstruct the most complete and accurate depiction of this ancient wonder, long believed to be lost to history with all the other Wonders of the Ancient World, save only for the Great Pyramid at Giza.
With its digital reconstruction, soon another of these enigmatic Seven Wonders will be available for observation and study, bringing to life another long-lost marvel of antiquity for modern eyes.
Additional details about the PHAROS Project can be found on its official website.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
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