Carved walls, bas reliefs, sculptures and friezes dating back to 900 B.C. make up the priceless treasure trove that has come to light at the Carchemish archaeological site in south-eastern Turkey near the Syrian border, where a joint Italo-Turkish mission has been under way since 2011, resuming excavations following mine clearing operations.<\/p>\n
Marchetti, \u201ca sensational discovery\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n An emotional Nicol\u00f2 Marchetti, mission leader and director of the University of Bologna\u2019s School of Specialisation in Archeological Treasures spoke of \u201ca discover such as has not been seen in 50 years\u201d. He and the mayor of Gaziantep, Fatma Sahin, University of Istanbul professor Hasan Peker announced this year\u2019s extraordinary results to the press on Saturday. Involved for 10 years now in excavations in the country\u2019s southeast, the professor, who was reached by telephone, described the \u201clegendary site\u201d, where even Lawrence of Arabia worked, as \u201ca place between two nations \u2013 55 hectares in Turkey and 35 in Syria \u2013 with the railway and border demarcation cutting the ancient city in two\u201d.<\/p>\n Military base on the site, ISIS militias across the border <\/strong><\/p>\n Precisely as a result of its strategic location, by 1920 the Turkish armed forces had already built a base on the site that is still operational, complete with barracks at the top of the acropolis and tanks lined up along digging areas. A presence that does not go unappreciated given the Sunni jihadists of the Islamic State (ISIS) on the other side of the border, who have thus far not created problems for the archaeological mission, except for one occasion last year when gunfire erupted at the border. \u201cWe have never had contact\u201d, Marchetti confirms, otherwise engaged in the \u201cfrenetic developments\u201d of the mission, whose staff of 35 includes archaeologists, architects, photographers and preservationists from the Universities of Bologna, Gaziantep and Istanbul. \u201cA sensational discovery, were we deeply moved\u201d, he confesses, describing \u201ccarved walls, bas reliefs, sculptures and friezes dating back to 900 B.C\u201d.<\/p>\n Archaeological park opening planned for May 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFrom the operational viewpoint it\u2019s a paradise, even though our isolation is destined to end\u201d, he adds, illustrating the ambitious plans for the area, with the creation of an archaeological park already in the advanced stages. Marchetti is a firm believer: \u201cwe want this region to have the benefit of the economic development that tourism brings, it seems right and ethical\u201d, the Italian professor says, pointing out the area\u2019s \u201cmany attractions, from food and wine to trekking\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carved walls, bas reliefs, sculptures and friezes dating back to 900 B.C. make up the priceless treasure trove that has come to light at the Carchemish archaeological site in south-eastern Turkey near the Syrian border, where a joint Italo-Turkish mission has been under way since 2011, resuming excavations following mine clearing operations. Marchetti, \u201ca sensational […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32,6],"class_list":["post-10911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-approfondimenti","tag-diplomazia-culturale","tag-mediterraneo-e-medio-oriente"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}