It was determined that the liquid in a 17th century old jar made with glass, which was found during excavations in Sivas and placed in the Archeology Museum, was olive oil.
The glass bell with its mouth covered with clay, found near the Kurtlapa village in Sivas, given to the Sivas Archeology Museum, where many finds from the Chalcolithic, Old Bronze Age and Hittites, as well as artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods are exhibited. The research was made by Sivas Cumhuriyet University (SCU) academicians.
As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the liquid inside the glass bell jar, which is considered to belong to the 3rd and 4th centuries, was olive oil.
Director of SCU Advanced Technology Research and Application Center (CUTAM) Prof. Dr. Mehmet Şimşir said, “As CÜTAM, it is one of our works to bring information such as what historical artifacts in Sivas are and what period they belong to.”
SCU Archeology Department faculty member Dr. Instructor Erden Erpehlivan said, “Before we started this study, we were working on documentation and mental energy. It is not an example we see very often in Turkish museums. This is an example found with its material. In this context, we also carried out archaeometric analyzes in it.”
This Old Jar is a Very Rare Example
CUTAM Coordinator Dr. Instructor Ebru Yavaş said, “It is an example from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. Since it is a very rare example, we especially worked on how to carry out this analysis without damaging this work. The mouth of the glass material was covered with soil and the air flow was cut off. Therefore, while taking samples from here, we were able to perform the analysis, especially with the sample we took from this clay sample. Thus, we did not damage the organic material. We allowed this sample to decompose with special techniques in our laboratory, and then we were able to analyze it. As a result, we had an idea that the substance contained in it is olive oil.”
About Sivas Archeology Museum
With 12,500 pieces, the Sivas Archaeology Museum is one of the biggest in the Central Anatolian region and the only museum still standing in the heart of Sivas after the Atatürk Congress and Ethnography Museum was cleared out for repair. Reopened in 2009, the museum welcomes 30,000 visitors annually and features artifacts excavated from the Hittite villages of Sarissa and Kayalıpınar excavation regions.
One of the most stunning pieces in the museum is a sculpture of Teshub’s holy twin bulls, the Hittite gods of storm and sky. It is said that Teshub’s carriage is carried by the holy bulls.
It is a Hittite artifact that was found during excavations in Sivas’s Başören neighborhood’s Altınyayla district between 1992 and 2004.