The discovery of a complex of fertility worship under a house in Turkey dating back to the Iron Age!
Archaeologists have discovered an underground complex in Turkey, dating back to the Iron Age, and it is believed that a cult called the "fertility cult" has used it as long ago as the first millennium BC.
What is laughable and ironic in this news is that this discovery came after a failed theft scheme. The authorities learned of this complex in 2017, after some thieves discovered it under a two-story house in the Turkish village of Basbok, and decided to rob its treasures.
Before the theft took place, the company prevented the thieves from reaching, and the investigators discovered a hole dug by the thieves in the floor of the house, 2.2 * 1.5 meters. Carved from limestone in an underground place.
This underground place, which was not fully explored due to the instability of its structure, contains rare rock paintings on the walls, which depict a procession of deities painted in the Assyrian style.
Saleem Ferro-Adali commented; Associate Professor of Ancient History at Ankara University of Social Sciences, on the subject in an email he sent to Life Science:
"The picture shows the Assyrian domination of the region in the early stages. The wall panel contains a picture of a divine procession with previously unknown elements, and Aramaic writing to describe some of the deities; it combines modern Assyrian, Aramaic and Syriac-Anatolian divine icons."
The underground complex dates back to the early Neo-Assyrian period (around the 9th century BC), and contains upper and lower galleries, as well as an entrance room, but the original opening of the room has not yet been found; That's because museum experts conducted excavations in August and September of 2018, two months after starting, the excavations were suspended due to instability at the site, and now, the area is under the legal protection of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Within a short time of excavation, archaeologists removed sediments - which fell as a result of erosion - in the underground spaces, revealing the decorative petroglyphs carved into the wall panel. The deities on the wall plaque indicate that the place was for the regional fertility worship of Syrian, Anatolian and Aramaic deities, with rituals controlled by early Neo-Assyrian authorities.
Iron Age subterranean complex discovered beneath Turkish home
Scholars believe that the painting was made by local artists who served the Assyrian authorities, who adapted the Neo-Assyrian art in a regional context to suit the place and period, and they contemplate revealing more areas of the underground complex through more excavations, which may provide more examples of works artistic.
https://www.arageek.com/news/neo-assyrian-rock-relief-discovered-turkey?fbclid=IwAR1nEUxI8BT60uOTgVJdPyyqzmnRbu6RyUkUtawOYSP_6pPu7By11yEIjW0