Neo-Assyrian Processional Panel Discovered in Turkish Village

In 2017, a clandestine excavation in Başbük, Turkey, uncovered a subterranean chamber with a rare Neo-Assyrian relief depicting a procession of eight deities. The site, beneath a private home, was looted by owners who built a secret tunnel and attempted to sell the panel. Turkish authorities seized the site, arrested the looters, and archaeologists led by Mehmet Önal of Harran University published their study in Antiquity on May 11, 2022. The panel, dating to the 8th century BCE, shows deities including Hadad, Attar'ata, Sîn, Šamaš, and Atargatis, with Aramaic inscriptions—the first known use of that language on a Neo-Assyrian relief. The style blends Assyrian imperial iconography with local Syrian-Anatolian motifs, reflecting political strategy. The chamber, accessed via a six-meter rock-cut staircase, features hundreds of meters of passages. The incomplete graffito "Mukīn-abūa" may refer to an official of King Adad-nirari III (911–891 BCE) who possibly commissioned the space. The site remains under study.