The 16-strong team, headed by Prof. Dr. François Bertemes from Hale University, unearthed building foundations, walls and various ceramic objects dating from the Bronze Age in the Tavşan Island across from the Forestry Camp

Stating the excavations would end on September 29, Prof Bertemes said: “We have opened seven more exploration pits on the island.

“The findings belong to the 6th century AD. Our researches reveal that Tavşan Island detached and dragged away from Greek mainland after the tsunami which happened in the Ancient Greek Period.

“There had been rumours along these lines before. Presently, we are comparing the findings from here and Greece. The resemblances support these rumours but we have not yet concluded our researches.”

Videoing by helicopter
Head of excavations, Andreas Furtuöngler, said they were videoing the excavation areas by a model helicopter they had brought from Germany.

Expressing they had good footage, Mr Furtuöngler said the videos would make great contribution to the excavations. Most recently, the sacred road from Apollon Temple to Miletus and Tavşan Island were videoed from bird’s eye view.

The sacred road, where the German archaeologists are excavating, was built in the 6th century BC. The road leading from Apollon Temple to Miletus was paved with white marble stones.

At the time, Apollon Temple was one of the leading oracles of the ancient world. Thousands from the city of Miletus, which is the hometown of philosophers such as Aristotle and Thales, who laid the basis of rational thought, would rush to the temple to find out about their futures.

On both sides of the sacred road, there were statues of priests and administrators. These statues, built by the priests of Miletus as gifts to the God Apollon would greet the visitors on the road to the temple and accompany them along the road with their dignified and mystic being.

Only 15 of these statues, which are estimated to be more than 50 originally, have survived to our day. Most of them were taken to the British Museum by the English researcher C.N. Newton in 1858.

Despite the demands of Turkish government, The British government did not return the statues.