Excavations shed light on Anatolian history

ISPARTA – Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

Continuing excavations in the Pisidia Antiocheia ancient city in the southern province of Isparta’s Yalvaç district have unearthed a 1,800-year-old relief that will shed light on daily life in the city. 

The head of the excavations, Süleyman Demirel University Archaeology Department’s Prof. Mehmet Özhanlı, said the ancient city covered an area of 67 hectares and excavations would continue until October.  

According to Özhanlı, they had so far made important findings in the ancient city to shed light on Anatolian history. He said they had uncovered a 30-meter-wide and 150-meter-long city center, known as Tiberius, and a temple on the Ayadiricus Hill during the previous years’ excavations. He said they focused on the western part of the ancient city this year, and discovered food products such as wheat, chickpeas and lentils, showing that agriculture was developed in the region. 

Özhanlı said they had also found a 1,800-year-old relief depicting small angels picking grapes from a basket, adding it gave significant clues about life in the city. 

“The relief has small angels that are picking grapes. This is a symbolic thing, because the harvest season was one of the most important times in ancient cities. There was a harvest here. We see that they had a bountiful harvest. Ancient sources tell us that two big festivals were held there. One of them was the harvest festival. We can say the Pisidia Antiocheia Culture and Arts Festival, which is celebrated in July, is a continuation of this tradition.”