Enormous Roman Mosaic In Turkey

Live Science

A huge Roman mosaic that was uncovered in southern Turkey by archaeologists from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  The well preserved tiles once decorated a bathhouse during the Roman Empire's zenith.

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00:00I'm Michael Hoff and I have unearthed a massive Roman mosaic.

00:06The mosaic is spectacular because it is extremely large.

00:11As far as we are aware, it looks to be the largest mosaic of its kind ever found in southern

00:19Turkey.

00:20It's also unusual in its preservation.

00:25It's extremely well preserved.

00:26The part that we have excavated, and we have uncovered approximately 50% of it, it looks

00:31to be in pristine shape.

00:34We were surprised to have found a mosaic of such size and of such caliber in this region

00:43of Turkey, an area that had usually been off the map, off the radar screen of most ancient

00:50historians and archaeologists, and suddenly this thing comes into view.

00:55It does cause us to change our focus about what we think rough Cilicia was like in antiquity.

01:03Why is this find so important?

01:07The reason why is because this region is not well understood in terms of history and archaeology.

01:15It's not a place where archaeologists have spent much time working in.

01:19And therefore everything that we find adds more evidence to our understanding of this area

01:28of the Roman Empire.

01:29And we're beginning to understand that it was perhaps more Romanized, more in line with the

01:37rest of the Roman world than had been suspected before.

01:41I lead a team of 60 students and scholars from the University of Nebraska, other United

01:47States institutions, and as well as our sister school, Ataturk University in Turkey.

01:55We have an opportunity to get down and get dirty, uncover objects that had never been seen before

02:01by modern eyes, so that students get to touch the artifacts, they can measure the objects,

02:08they can understand what it might have been like in antiquity, to visit a Roman temple, to

02:14walk on a mosaic pavement, to celebrate in an athletic arena, to go into an ancient bath and experience

02:24what it might have been like.

02:26To actually walk into a still standing Roman building from 2,000 years ago, it's a rush.

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