Archaeologists have unearthed an ornately carved elephant tusk in what may have once been an Iron Age centre of power. The ivory carving features a mythical sphinx, a human head on the body of a winged lion, as well as a depiction of a real lion and two tall plants that may represent the mythical tree of life. While the artwork dates to the Iron Age, it was found in an archaeological layer over a much older city, the deserted Bronze Age Hittite capital of Hattusa.
The artefact shows that the Iron Age settlement at the site was an important place, although it was established after the Hittites had abandoned the city in about 1200 BCE during what’s known as the Late Bronze Age collapse. The artefact is about 30 centimetres long and ten centimetres wide, and may have been part of a piece of furniture. After scientific studies of the ivory carving are complete, it will go on display at the Boğazköy Museum.
Archaeologists estimate that the carved piece of elephant’s tusk is about 2,800 years old