Archeological excavations in the ancient city of Knidos in southwestern Turkey, which have been ongoing for 21 years, have been suspended as a result of shocking revelations. It has been discovered that 2,000-year-old mosaics have been stolen, a hut has been built on an ancient bridge and there was no inventory of findings at the site, reported the Doğan news agency.
As part of an investigation launched in January, excavation work was stopped by the Culture and Tourism Ministry in April.
A report indicates that historic artifacts had been harmed during excavations. It told of 2,000-year-old columns in Stoa that were broken and waste water pipes laid among them. It seems no inventory was taken of a collection of historic artifacts made up of 148 pieces from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, historic mosaics had been stolen and sunken artifacts had been retrieved by divers working in a forbidden zone.
As a result, the head of the excavation team, professor Ramazan Özgan, has been taken to court on charges of damaging historic artifacts.
Özgan, a faculty member in Selçuk University”s science and literature department, has refuted the claims, saying there were no grounds for many of the allegations and that stealing artifacts would have been impossible as there was a ministry representative present at every step of the way when the excavations were being carried out. Özgan added that he planned to sue the director of the Marmaris Museum over the allegations. “Yes there could be some faults, but halting the excavations harms the cultural heritage. The judge will decide who is right in the end,” he stated
The museum director, Neşe Kırdemir, on the other hand, asserted that the ancient city was being plundered and historic pieces damaged severely. Together with four other workers, she was on guard duty to protect the area, Kırdemir said. “We had previously reported this plundering to the ministry and an investigation was launched afterwards. Many artifacts are really in bad shape. Everyone knows about the years-old excavations in the area. But none of the findings were preserved properly and diving still continues in the forbidden zone. We cleaned up some of the mess around and explored the settlement area and the city entrance where Cleopatra, whose name is engraved in mosaics, brought the Stoa, Odeon and amphitheatre into the daylight. Becuase we have no electricity and water here, it is difficult for us to continue works. Still these are not excuses and we cannot waste time to protect our cultural heritage.”
Resource: Turkish Daily News
