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Archaeologists have unearthed a quaternary - century Roman military construction in southeastern Turkey , confirming historical disk of the fortress ’s construction during the sovereignty of Emperor Constantius II .
The new uncovered structure was find atHasankeyf , one of the oldest endlessly inhabit sites in the world . Over a span of 10,000 years , more than 20 culture — including theAssyrians , Byzantines and Ottomans — built this Tigris River liquidation .
A view of the archaeological remains at Hasankeyf in 2012, before it was flooded by a dam. Archaeologists found the remains of a Roman military structure there this past summer.
When theRomanscame to Hasankeyf , they built a fort to police their empire ’s perimeter with Persia . Although historical records mentioned the fort and archaeological dig has been ongoing since the 1980s , the garrison was not located until this summer , when it was expose by a team of researchers chair byZekai Erdal , an artistry historian at Mardin Artuklu University , according toDaily Sabah .
Erdal consulted with Roman architecture experts to identify the large , blocky stones as remnants of the " opus isodomum " wall expression technique . The Romans regularly used this method acting in their local public buildings , but it is not often found in the state of the empire .
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Little is known about this ancient fortress , which at one time was calledCepha , from the Aramaic word for " rock . " In the 350s , Constantius II built a turn of fortresses , include Cepha , in strategically of import places along the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire to protect the local population from Iranian invasions . Although the Romanist emperor butterfly Jovian and the Persian big businessman Shapur II draw up a peace treaty in 363 , Cepha remain a Roman fort and military outpost .
Archaeological archeological site at Hasankeyf over the years has unwrap item from a variety of time periods . These artifacts include a clay horse figurine from the Iron Age , floral frescoes from the 13th to 14th century , and Muslim coffins from the Ottoman period , the Daily Sabah report .
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In a 2023 dig , Erdal and his squad found an800 - year - sometime " healing bowl"inscribed with spells used in folk medicine . to boot , theyrecovered two ringsmade of bone and the semiprecious stone agate , which archers in the Middle Ages belike used for finger protection .
Due to the structure of the Ilısu Dam ( also called the Veysel Eroğlu Dam ) on the Tigris River , which was make out in 2018 , much of Hasankeyf has been flooded . Many of the ancient social organisation and artefact have since beenrelocated to the Archeopark areato preserve them in an open - strain museum . According to Erdal , however , only the miserable part of ancient Hasankeyf was flooded by the dam , while the upper part — which includes the citadel and fort — remains .
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