Turkish archaeologists have found at the bottom of Lake Van the sunken ruins of an ancient settlement and a cemetery marked with symbols of the Turkmen tribe Kayi, which founded the Ottoman Empire.
Lake Van is a salty, drainless body of water lying in the Armenian Highlands. In 2017, archaeologists found a fortress at its bottom with one side at least a kilometre long and with walls up to four metres high.
"Now they have reported that they have discovered a settlement at a depth of 23 metres. Nearby, archaeological divers found a cemetery, which added to the mystery," writes Russia's Naked-Science.
Some of the tombstones were marked with Christian crosses and some with signs of the Turkmen tribe of Kayi.
"The fact that Christian symbols and the signs of the Kayi found themselves in close proximity in a medieval flooded cemetery is a unique phenomenon so far. It suggests that we know very little about life in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire."
Credits: Eziz Boyarov
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