In the ancient Greek city of Antandros in Turkey, works of art have been discovered during archaeological excavations. The city is located in the Balikesir’s Edremit district, better known in Greece as Paleokastron. The pieces are on display at Bursa Archaeology Museum. According to Greek mythology, Antandros was where Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite.
where the unearthed artifacts will be displayed [Credit: AA]
The excavations began 13 years ago, according to the head of the Association for Rescue and Protection of the city, Mehmet Sakaroğlu. He continued, highlighting how long these have taken and how much hard work they required. Furthermore, they are now in search of more sponsors to help with the display of the artworks found.
According to Sakaroğlu, during the excavations many valuable artifacts were recovered, especially in the necropolis area of the city. The excavations involved many archaeologists and students from three different universities. Furthermore, he underlined how important it was to find the sponsors they already have, an insurance company and the Altinluk Municipality.
Furthermore, according to Sakaroğlu, “Ancient artifacts and museums are two determining factors in a country’s development. Museums with archaeological artifacts always draw the attention of local people, as well as tourists. Although we have many valuable and historic artifacts in our region, we cannot make use of them as we have no museums. So we aim to increase the number of our sponsors, which will allow us to establish a museum where we can display our region’s artifacts and boost the city’s tourism at the same time. Artifacts found during the excavations are on display in the Bursa Archaeology Museum. Unfortunately, the majority of these have to be kept in storage. We do not know under what conditions they are being kept; whether they are safe or not. Our main purpose is to open a museum in the region.”
Author: Abed Alloush | Source: Greek Reporter [December 28, 2013]