The excavation and restoration work carried out on the Seljuk Cemetery within the Gevaş district of jap Türkiye’s Van led to the invention of eight “sanduka,” a sort of sarcophagi positioned over the unique graves of distinguished folks within the Turkish-Islamic custom.
Throughout the space that features the Halime Hatun Tomb, constructed 700 years in the past, one of many largest Turkish-Islamic cemeteries, excavation and restoration work started final 12 months with the permission of the Ministry of Tradition and Tourism.
The excavations, which had been led by the Van Museum and supervised by Ercan Çalış, a college member of Yüzüncü Yıl College (YYU), contain specialised teachers.
Eight sanduka, a sort of sarcophagi positioned over the unique graves of distinguished folks within the Turkish-Islamic custom had been found within the Gevaş Seljuk Cemetery, Van, Türkiye, Oct. 23, 2023. (AA Picture)
Çalış advised Anadolu Company (AA) that important findings had been obtained through the excavations, figuring out almost 700 tombstones within the space. He defined that on this 12 months’s work; they’d uncovered eight tombs buried beneath a few meter of soil.
“Tombstones will present us with beneficial info when it comes to artwork, science, historical past and tradition. These weren’t decided in earlier works. New coffins had been recorded by us for the primary time. This exhibits us that this place just isn’t restricted to simply 700 tombstones; the quantity will exceed 1000. Once we unearthed the coffins from the soil, we noticed that they preserved their unique options. Historical past, artwork and tradition appeared to spring from the soil.”
“The coffins and witnesses from 700 years in the past had utterly remained beneath the soil. Thus, the standard of the stone, its uncooked materials, the motifs, and the inscriptions on it remained unique. We predict the cemetery will flip into an open-air museum within the close to future,” he mentioned.
Eight sanduka, a sort of sarcophagi positioned over the unique graves of distinguished folks within the Turkish-Islamic custom had been found within the Gevaş Seljuk Cemetery, Van, Türkiye, Oct. 23, 2023. (AA Picture)
Çalış talked about that additionally they carried out groundwork and restoration processes for leaning, falling and damaged tombstones.
“We restore the stones to their unique state. We clear them and reveal the motifs and inscriptions on the stones. Tombstones are vital paperwork indicating that Van has been on Turkish soil for hundreds of years. The Nice Seljuks initiated the conquest motion from Iran and Iraq to Anatolia with the Battle of Malazgirt. The cemetery space corresponds to this era. We qualify this place because the Seljuk Cemetery as a result of if you have a look at the fashion on the stones, you may see the perfect options of the Seljuks present in different settlements right here,” he continued.