state-run Anadolu Agency

The underground city of Saint Mercurius, located in the Saratlı village of the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray, is famous for its 40 living spaces such as its church, mass graves, water wells, floor furnaces, pigeon houses, cellars and warehouse roofs.

Tree fossils recently discovered in eastern Turkey have provided insights into the country's climatic history, a member of Istanbul University's Faculty of Forestry said on Aug. 18.

Professor Ünal Akkemik told the state-run Anadolu Agency that fossils dating back 160 to 170 million years were found in the eastern province of Erzurum's Narman district.

Archaeologists in northwestern Turkey discovered a relief on Aug. 16 depicting a war between the Greeks and Persians in the fifth century B.C.

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A horse barn, discovered by archaeologists in Kayaşehir, will be reorganized as the Natural History Museum. Kayaşehir is a historical rock-cut hillside settlement that was discovered by chance during the urban transformation works carried out by the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) seven years ago in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir.

Elegant butterflies, which are fed with fruits left by the officials, create colorful images in the Tropical Butterfly Garden, operated by the Selçuklu Municipality in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

The garden is one of the largest of its kind in Europe in terms of its butterfly flight area.

Considered a "unique" work by the archaeology world, a 3,600-year-old fist-shaped drinking bowl is one of the three ancient drinking bowls discovered over the years in the archaeological excavations in Hattusha, the capital of the Hittite Civilization.

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The skeleton of a child found in ongoing archaeological excavations in Tozkoparan Mound, a first-degree archaeological site in the Pertek district of the eastern province of Tunceli, is now preserved in the city's newly opened museum.

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This year's excavations unearthed the remains of Iron Age walls and plaster at Porsuk-Zeyve Mound, which is located near the village of Porsuk in the Ulukışla district of Niğde and has original Hittite-era adobe bricks and Roman-era living traces.

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Drawing attention with its marvelous rock formations dating back 65 million years and likened to the Grand Canyon in the U.S., the Levent Valley in the eastern province of Malatya's Akçadağ district awaits adrenaline enthusiasts with its newly constructed alternatives and a 104-meter-high viewing terrace with a glass floor.

Despite being located in the middle of the southeastern steppe, Şanlıurfa's Halfeti district, which is like a coastal city thanks to the Birecik Dam Lake, attracts the attention of visitors who wish to spend time in nature.

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