Mosaics dating back 1,600 years, have been uncovered in the ancient city of İdyrus in the southern province of Antalya’s Kemer district, Hurriyet newspaper reports.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mustafa Demirel, the Antalya Museum director and the head of İdyrus excavations, announced ruins of a church and the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk settlements were found in Kemer.
Demirel noted İdyrus is a modern ancient city established in the Ayışığı Cove and the church ruins reveal the phases of the ancient city from the Hellenistic era to the Roman and Eastern Roman era.
Some ruins and mosaics were found by the Antalya Museum in 1976 in the ancient city but after that year, the excavations were stopped.
Demirel stressed excavations were focused on the church, which is believed to be in the center of the ancient city.
He added mosaics were used in the central nave (the place of religious ceremonies) and on the right and left side of the floor, adding they could see them clearly in the church.
Demirel revealed they also found wall ruins, three gates and an apse-like wall in the excavations, and that the floor of the church is covered with mosaics made of orange, tile red, white and grey stones.
He said lots of candles and coins from the Roman era were unearthed in the excavations.
Archaeology park
Kemer District Governor Mustafa Cihad Feslihan stressed the goal of completely unearthing the ancient city is to contribute to cultural tourism in Kemer. He said they plan to turn the field into an archaeology park.
Idyros (Latin: Idyrus) was an ancient Greek city in Lycia. Its exact location is uncertain. According to Pseudo-Scylax it was located north of Phaselis. The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World lists two possible locations for the city. One at the location of modern Kemer, at 36°36′9.4″N 30°33′35.31″E on the coast. The other possible location is at an uncertain position much further inland.
It was found in Kemer at a location next to Ayışığı Bay and the studies on Idyros ancient city still continue. Byzantine wall ruins, three doors threshold and a wall resembling the abscissa as well as ruins of a church were found during excavations.
The ornaments with the geometrical motifs are surrounded with vegetable boards at the heart shapes. A chapel was found in the southern part of the church. The findings and coins found during excavations show that this structure was used during 4th and 6th centuries. The ruins of Byzantium city can be found along the coast of Ayışığı Bay. There is a clover shape church and some other constructions as well.
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