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Friday, 1st May 2009 (1160 views)

Gold foil has been discovered by archaeologists in a Turkish temple dating from the ninth or tenth century BC.

The 'Dark Age' temple indicates that writing traditions may have continued from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age period and the era may have been more culturally and politically stable than initially thought, according to National Geographic.

Damaged by fire centuries ago, the main room of the building was littered with artefacts - including gold foil - and excavations at the site are continuing in a bid to find the inner sanctuary.

Timothy Harrison of the University of Toronto's Tayinat Archaeological Project told the news source: "We are filling in a cultural and a political history of this era."

The temple was unearthed in 2008 at the Tell Ta'yinat site on the Plain of Antioch in south-eastern Turkey, close to the Syrian border.

In related news, gold treasure discovered in Bulgaria and dating from the third century BC will go on show at the Nessebar Archaeological Museum from next month having been recovered by authorities.

 

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