ANCIENT VILLAGE OF MERSIN
DISCOVERIES DESCRIBED BY PROFESSOR LEGENDARY SITE OF GARDEN OF EDEN Professor John Garstang, of Liverpool, the well-known archaeologist, described to members of the Society of Antiquaries in London recently his discoveries in the prehistoric village of Megsin, on the Mediterranean coast, in Southern Turkey. The site lies astride the historic-: trade route linking East with West at a point where the gap between, the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean narrows to a few miles. It is believed to be the most ancient settlement so far discovered, dating back nearly 8000 years. According to an Arab legend, it was the site of the Garden of Eden. Before the last war Professor Garstang had already discovered cultural links between Europe and Asia at Mersin, dating back to 3000 B.C. Now ten more occupation levels have been unearthed. The inhabitants had their domesticated animals, cultivated the fields, ! sowing barley chiefly, and weaved i their cloth, but the basic industry ! was the manufacture of artistic i pottery, which was developed to a i marked degree. Some of the levels ‘ were found, to be so rich in so-called Uruk grey wares as to suggest that Mersin had been a distributing centre of the industry, .
A remarkable defensive system; was unearthed. Here there were' thick outer walls with slit windows : for the use of archers, and barracks rooms, abutting against the interior of the main defences, formed domestic apartments.
Household utensils of the period: were found in abundance. In the', interior was a large house, more: richly furnished, containing important objects, particularly some poly-: chrome pottery in lustrous painting.?
The foundations of walls in one of the levels were megalithic in proportions, and a “door” into one of the corridors was a single block of stone weighing several tons. The result of the past season’s work at Mersin means,' : that the whole panorama of tbgse isolated: pre-dynastic culturesjJKfetands re-; vealed as a visible picture. - ; \
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 80, 15 September 1947, Page 5
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322ANCIENT VILLAGE OF MERSIN Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 80, 15 September 1947, Page 5
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