Welcome: Sign In | Register | Contact | Site Map

header
header nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav buttonheader nav button

Subscribe

Dynamite Damages Ancient Reliefs in Turkey

Landon Silla
Roman tomb reliefs were damaged by looters' dynamite explosions in Mersin, Turkey

Official CyArk Post

By: Justin Barton
April 3rd, 2009

Dynamite Damages Ancient Reliefs in Turkey
Roman rock-wall niched tombs in Mersin, Turkey. Photo by Engin Noyan.
Dynamite Damages Ancient Reliefs in Turkey
Roman rock-wall niched tombs in Mersin, Turkey
Ten days ago at the archaeological site Adamkayalar in the Şeytan Valley of Turkey, a group of looters damaged eleven rock-wall relief niches when they detonated dynamite. The Mersin University Klikia Archaeological Research Center has reported the situation on their website and to local police. The Mersin Culture and Tourism office has launched an investigation to catch the looters responsible for the damage.

The rock-cut reliefs, known as the Adamkayalar, are located in the Kizkalesi district of Mersin and part of a Roman necropolis containing tombs dating to third century A.D. The reliefs depict depict important individuals of the time, including kings, soldiers and high priests.

Mersin University’s Associate Professor Murat Durukan of the Klikia Archaeological Research Center was displeased with the tragic event and has said that the looters sabotaged not only Turkey’s heritage, but a site important to the whole of the world. He related it to some of the more famous destructions in Afghanistan and beckons for his government to provide better security: “The situation we experienced here is not different from the destruction of historical artifacts in Afghanistan. Being indifferent to this event will damage our country’s image. The authorities should appoint a guard in the place for twenty-four hours to stop this insanity.”

The Mersin tombs have not been digitally preserved; if digital documentation techniques had been applied to the site it is possible that an accurate repair could take place. Perhaps what is left should be digitally documented and preserved in order to safe guard from the permanent loss of information and detail if these types of acts continue.

Share This


External Link

spacer

Add Comment

Name:
Email:  Email will not be displayed publicly
Comment:
Comments will not display until they are approved by CyArk staff

Enter Security Code:

While we generally try to approve as many comments as possible, any comments that contain profanity, are abusive, or are off topic will not be approved.
We do not edit comments to meet approval.
All links/urls entered will automatically be formatted to be a clickable link with an ref="nofollow" attribute inserted.

More News

The Scottish Ten in Orkney - August 25th, 2010
New Discovery within the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl - August 5th, 2010
Laser Scanning St. Anne's Church in Vilnius, Lithuania - July 28th, 2010
The Story of the Tripod Rig, by Hermanson Egge Engineering - July 21st, 2010
Highlights from the Mt. Rushmore Laser Scanning Project - July 2nd, 2010
 
Unless otherwise stated, all content Copyright CyArk, 2009. Copyright Information
All Projects | RSS Feed