HISTORY
2,800-YEAR-OLD IVORY CARVED WITH ASPHINX IS DISCOVERED IN TURKEY
WORDS TOM METCALFE
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.