December 2025 in Turkish archaeology

Submitted by Iza on Wed, 12/31/2025 - 16:47

December 2025 closed the archaeological year in Türkiye with a remarkable density of discoveries, restorations, and fresh debates that stretched from the Neolithic foundations of settled life to the layered remains of the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman worlds. Across the country, excavations advanced at major sacred landscapes such as Letoon, Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, and Sefertepe, while long-sought structures like Limyra's Temple of Zeus and hidden palatial complexes at Kültepe finally emerged from the ground. Falling water levels, post-earthquake rescue works, and even chance encounters by shepherds and hikers revealed mosaics, rock art, funerary monuments, underground chapels, and unexpected traces of everyday life, reminding us how much of Anatolia's past still lies just beneath the surface.

Alongside new finds, December also highlighted the growing focus on conservation, interpretation, and cultural memory. Monumental restorations progressed at sites such as Gaziantep Castle, Euromos, Amasra, Zerzevan, and Yedikule, while repatriations from abroad and nationwide documentation projects underscored Türkiye's ongoing efforts to protect its heritage. From rare Neolithic figurines and Urartian fortifications to Late Roman reception halls, Byzantine mosaics, and Neo-Hittite urban centres, the discoveries announced this month reinforced Anatolia's role as one of the world's richest archaeological landscapes, where each season continues to refine, and sometimes overturn, what we thought we knew about the ancient past.

Hüma Hatun – The Phoenix Mother of a Conqueror

Submitted by Iza on Wed, 12/10/2025 - 17:29

Hüma Hatun, who died in September 1449, belongs to that quiet, powerful circle of early Ottoman women whose lives are scarcely recorded yet whose influence altered the course of history. She stands at the threshold of one of the empire's greatest transformations: the rise of her son, Mehmed II — the future Conqueror of Constantinople. Though we know little of her voice, the traces she left shape a portrait of maternal resolve in a world where dynasties were forged as much in nurseries and provincial courts as on blood-soaked fields.

Portrait of Mehmet II by Gentile Bellini, dating 1480. No authentic portrait of Hüma Hatun is known to exist. Her life remains so lightly traced in the historical record that not even a contemporary likeness has survived. It is therefore with a touch of regret that the illustration accompanying this text must instead show her son, Mehmed the Conqueror — the ruler whose destiny she shaped from behind the veil of history

Blachernae Walls of Constantinople

Submitted by Iza on Thu, 12/04/2025 - 08:41

The Blachernae Walls form the part of the Land Walls of Constantinople. They connect the Theodosian Land Walls, which terminate at the height of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (now functioning as the Tekfur Palace Museum), with the Sea Walls at the Golden Horn. They consist of a series of single walls built in different periods, which cover the ancient suburb of Blachernae, now the present-day Istanbul quarter known as Ayvansaray. The walls are about 12–15 meters in height, thicker than the Theodosian walls, and with more closely placed towers. Situated on a steep slope, they lacked a moat, except on their lower end towards the Golden Horn, where Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos had created one. This early fortifications represent a fascinating window into the developmental stages of Constantinople's urban and military architecture — an example of how layers of construction over centuries reflect the city's shifting boundaries, priorities, and threats.

November 2025 in Turkish archaeology

Submitted by Iza on Mon, 12/01/2025 - 10:30

In November 2025, Turkish archaeology announced a series of remarkable discoveries spanning eras from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Excavations at Degirmenler Höyük revealed architectural remains predating the Karaz culture, reshaping understanding of early settlements in eastern Anatolia. At Çayönü, archaeologists uncovered a 5,000-year-old building collapsed in an ancient earthquake, offering rare insight into prehistoric seismic events. In Konya, the foundation of one of the twelve monumental Seljuk gates built against the Mongol threat came to light. Eastern Türkiye yielded the best-preserved Urartian wall paintings yet found, hidden within an underground complex near Garibin Tepe. Meanwhile, newly identified 8,000-year-old rock art in Kayseri’s Develi district pushed back the timeline of Anatolia’s early symbolic traditions.

Nilüfer Hatun – Matron of a Dynasty in the Making

Submitted by Iza on Sun, 11/23/2025 - 15:00

Nilüfer Hatun, a concubine of Orhan, the second Ottoman sultan, stands at the hazy but momentous threshold of early Ottoman history — a period where fact and legend blend as readily as the frontier cultures from which the young beylik emerged. As the mother of Murad I, the sultan who would transform the Ottomans from a border principality into an ascendant power, Nilüfer occupies one of the earliest and most consequential positions in the dynasty's lineage. However, she also represents one of its greatest historiographical puzzles.