When you purchase through links on our site , we may make an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed an ornately carved 2,800 - yr - old elephant tusk in what may have once been an Iron Age " center of power . "
The pearl carving features a mythical sphinx — a human head on the body of a winged lion — as well as a depicting of a real lion and two tall industrial plant that may represent the mythical " Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree of sprightliness . " While the nontextual matter dates to the Iron Age , it was found in an archaeological layer over a much old metropolis — the deserted Bronze Age Hittite capital of Hattusa .
Archaeologists estimate that the carved piece of elephant’s tusk is about 2,800 years old.
According toAndreas Schachner , an archaeologist with the German Archaeological Institute who has led excavations at Hattusa since 2006 , the artifact shows that the Iron Age liquidation at the site was an important seat , although it was found after the Hittites had abandoned the urban center in about 1200 B.C. , during what ’s know as theLate Bronze Age collapse .
" It is possible to say that this place was no longer a pocket-size township but a more authoritative property , perhaps a center of power , " Schachner told the Turkish state - ownedAnadolu Agency .
Related : Enigmatic Anglo - Saxon pearl ringing disclose in elite burials came from African elephants 4,000 miles aside
The artifact was found in a soil layer from an Iron Age settlement, which sat on top of the Bronze Age Hittite city of Hattusa.
The artifact is about 12 inch ( 30 centimeter ) long and 4 inches ( 10 centimeter ) wide , and Schachner say it may have been part of a piece of furniture .
" It was probably added as an ornament to a wooden box seat or article of furniture made of wood in its own meter , " he say the agency . " The work is broken on the right and leave behind sides , and the upper and down slope are in our original form . Therefore , it is possible to guess that it was longer . "
Iron Age settlement
Schachner excuse that the object was unparalleled among finds at the Iron Age settlement built at the give up Hattusa site , which is now beside the Turkish village of Boğazköy ( also spell Boğazkale ) , about 90 air mile ( 145 km ) east of Ankara .
— Sphinx may have been built from a natural rock feature eat at by breaking wind , study claims
— Ancient Egyptian pharaoh - sphinx statue excavate at sun temple
The ivory is carved with depictions of a mythical sphinx and a lion, along with two tall plants that may represent the mythical “tree of life."
— 11,000 - year - old statue of jumbo man clutching penis unearthed in Turkey
" For the first sentence , we are faced with a work deck with such a dense , beautifully rendered conniption , " he say . " all-encompassing archeological site have been carried out at the Iron Age level at Boğazköy , but we had not come across such a detailed artefact before . "
He summate that the symbol carved into the shard might reveal family relationship between the settlement and other contemporaneous cultures .
After scientific written report of the ivory carving are complete , it will go on display at the Boğazköy Museum , Schachner said .
Was it a Isidor Feinstein Stone prick or just a sway ? An archaeologist explain how scientist can evidence the difference
Hatnefer ’s fondness scarabaeus : An recherche ancient Egyptian Au necklace inscribed with the Book of the all in
Famous tomb say to throw Alexander the Great ’s Padre actually contains younger man , a woman and 6 babies , study finds
