Animal fossils in Istanbul shedding light on history

Turkey's only Osteoarchaeology Application and Research Center continues to shed light on Istanbul's past thanks to the large number of animal fossils and others that were discovered during the Marmaray diggingsIstanbul's Marmaray not only altered the face of Turkey's largest city, it also changed how the city looks at its own history. With excavations for the transport link unearthing a treasure trove of ancient fossils and other detritus from the past, scientists are only beginning to appraise the past thanks to the bones left behind from yesteryear.

"Now we can see for real what we read in written sources," said Istanbul University Osteoarchaeology Application and Research Center Director Professor Vedat Onar.

The center has helped shed light on the social and cultural life of the ancients and become a critical institute for the examination of animal bones, Onar said.

The excavations had brought to light very important data, changing the history of Istanbul, Onar said, noting that the institute was hosting academics from abroad, as well as student groups.

Onar said they had found bones from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras during the excavations. "We examined thousands of animal bones, discovering 57 species in this area. We have so far examined more than 60,000 bones in nearly 12 trucks. Using the bones, we are trying to reveal the social life of the era, human-animal relations, food habits and cultural structures." 

Neolithic Age 

Onar said the examinations on the bones were continuing. "We are examining the bones one by one. We need to understand what a bone tells us. The Yenikap? and Marmaray are the projects of the century. The findings were unearthed [very] deep. We can see that...