Everyday Istanbul offers its inhabitants new finds. While some are of recent origin, others have been waiting hundreds, even thousands, of years to be discovered.
The ancient artifacts being unearthed in the Bathonca excavations, conducted by Şengül Aydıngün, head of prehistory courses at Kocaeli University’s Department of Archaeology, are the newest “old” surprises.
While forging ahead with the excavation of the ancient road that was brought to light last year, it was determined that Bathonca has a settlement laid out on a grid plan. Also unearthed in the excavation are a grave stela with inscriptions and relief from the Roman period and a fragment of a porphyry column of a type found only in Egypt.
Source: Hurriyet [November 16, 2010]