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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

More on the Edessan Syriac mosaics

SYRIAC WATCH: 1,800-Year-Old Mosaic Portraits of the Dead Unearthed in Turkey. Archaeologists excavating an ancient necropolis at the site of the historic the historic Urfa castle in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa found mosaic portraits of two men and two women (Claire Voon, Hyperallergic).
A series of curious mosaics have emerged during archaeological excavations of rock tombs in Turkey, representing individual portraits of the long-deceased. Archaeologists working on the historic Castle of Urfa in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa unearthed the floor tiles, according to the announcement from the Şanlıurfa Metropolitan Municipality, and they estimate that the images date to the first or second centuries CE.

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This article seems to be based on a press release in Turkish (linked to above) and gives some new details, including a considerably wider possible range of dating than indicated in the earlier reports.

Background here, here, and here. Related recent post here.