‘No Escape: Boubon’ exhibition brings scattered heritage together

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has secured the return of 100 cultural artifacts from the United States, including objects dating back to the Early Bronze Age and the Archaic Period, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on Nov. 2.

Speaking at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Ersoy presented the returned artifacts and inaugurated the exhibition “No Escape: Boubon,” which reunites works from the ancient city of Boubon that had been dispersed among collections in different countries. Manhattan Deputy District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos also attended the event.

The artifacts had been offered for sale by a U.S.-based auction house in May 2026. Following an investigation, the ministry shared scientific evidence and documentation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), resulting in the suspension of the sale and the artifacts’ return to Türkiye.

The returned collection includes 40 artifacts from Horoztepe, in the Erbaa district of Tokat province, dating from between 2300 and 2000 B.C. The objects include ceremonial musical instruments, weapons and metal vessels reflecting the advanced metalworking skills of Early Bronze Age Anatolia.

Research by Professor Tahsin Özgüç, together with records of illegal excavations carried out at Horoztepe in 1953, helped establish the artifacts’ origins. Comparisons of their forms and manufacturing characteristics provided evidence supporting their return nearly 70 years later.

Another group consists of 44 terracotta architectural plaques from Düver village in Burdur province, dating to the sixth century B.C. Used in the roofing and decoration of buildings during the Archaic Period, the plaques were identified through stylistic comparisons and archival records.

The return follows earlier repatriations of Düver artifacts from the United States in 2022, Denmark in 2024 and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2025. The latest group came from the J. Paul Getty Museum. Ersoy said the plaques would be reunited with other pieces from the collection at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums through a future project.

A portrait from the ancient city of Aphrodisias was also among the returned objects. Ersoy said a 1976 crime scene report, which indicated that additional artifacts had been stolen, helped establish the portrait’s provenance when assessed alongside archaeological evidence and archival records.

The collection also includes theater masks and statuettes of goddesses.

Boubon sculptures reunited after decades

The “No Escape: Boubon” exhibition focuses on bronze sculptures stolen from the ancient city of Boubon, near Ibecik village in Burdur’s Gölhisar district, during illegal excavations in the 1960s.

The sculptures once stood in the city’s Sebasteion, a sanctuary dedicated to Roman emperors and members of the imperial family. After being dismantled and smuggled abroad, their heads, torsos and limbs were scattered among collections in different countries.

The exhibition brings together works associated with Roman emperors Lucius Verus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Marcus Aurelius.

Researchers revisited eyewitness accounts from residents of Ibecik village and examined them alongside historical photographs and museum records to establish how the sculptures had been discovered and smuggled out of the area.

Comparisons of the connection marks on the statues’ feet and their bases provided further evidence. The fit between the foot mold of the Marcus Aurelius statue and the corresponding recesses in its base was among the findings supporting its Boubon origin.

The evidence was reinforced by soil and lead isotope analyses, with contributions from Professor Ernst Pernicka at Germany’s Curt Engelhorn Archaeometry Center.

Ersoy also said archaeological excavations at Boubon had resumed in 2023 under the coordination of the Burdur Archaeology Museum, led by Düzgün Tarkan and his team.