Ancient gastropod fossil found in Türkiye reveals prehistoric Sea
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Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the discovery of a 66-million-year-old gastropod fossil in Ankara, at the Kulhoyuk archaeological site.
Excavations in the Golbasi district unearthed the fossil, which researchers believe lived during the final stages of the Tethys Sea, an ancient body of water that once existed in central Anatolia. Archaeologists are now investigating whether people living at Kulhoyuk, a settlement dating back roughly 5,000 years, moved the fossil to the site from another location.
Understanding how the fossil arrived could reveal what it meant to the people who lived there. Kulhoyuk holds evidence of the Hattian and Hittite civilisations. This discovery joins recent finds at the site, including the oldest known seeds of the “Sevgi Cicegi”, or Love Flower, found within a 4,000-year-old Hittite vessel. Ankara University and the Culture and Tourism Ministry have supported ongoing excavations at Kulhoyuk since 2021, and Associate Professor Derya Yilmaz Tekin leads the work.
Ersoy stated that continued excavations will likely uncover more details about Kulhoyuk’s past.
