At the end of last year, a farmer in eastern Turkey discovered a rare, largely intact late Roman mosaic while planting a cherry orchard. Spanning almost 1,000 square feet, the mosaic is thought by archaeologists to be the largest example of its kind unearthed in the country.
Hidden for hundreds of years under 50 cm of loose topsoil in the village of Salkaya in Elazığ province, 300 miles east of Turkey’s capital Ankara, the mosaic is believed to have been laid in the late 3rd century.
“It is the first of its kind to have survived to the present day as a whole and in its portrayal of animals, all of which were once found here,” said Emre Çayır, the lead archaeologist at the excavation. “There may be larger mosaics elsewhere in Turkey, but those consist of geometric patterns or mythological subjects.” The state Archaeology and Ethnography Museum of Elazığ is overseeing the dig.
Featuring a rare Anatolian leopard, the mosaic has been coined the “Salkaya mosaic.” It chronicles a series of hunting scenes including a lion stalking a goat, a leopard killing an ostrich, greyhounds cornering a wild boar, and a stag escaping the clutches of a bear. Calmer moments are depicted; game birds relax beneath pomegranate trees and next to budding roses. Çayır said the scenes portray “an expression of the eternal cycle of nature.”
“The lion and bear represent authority in Roman tradition, and the depiction of hunting dogs reminds us that humans are part of the food chain, [showing how] the craftsmen used metaphor to convey these ideas,” he added.
The farmer, Mehmet Emin Sualp, purchased the land and started planting cherry saplings in 2023. In September, he reportedly stumbled across the mosaic while digging and contacted the state museum in Elazığ. Archaeologists removed the soil and completed conservation work this year. They said a bathhouse, a house of worship, and several other buildings may have existed in the immediate area spanning 65,000 square feet. A basalt road, irrigation channel, and a potential calcatorium for winemaking have also been discovered by the archaeologists.
Turkey’s culture ministry has not yet decided if the mosaic will be moved. One possibility is to build a complex at the site so that the mosaic can remain in situ. Those plans will depend on what else is found during the excavation process, provincial governor Numan Hatipoğlu said.
