Kultepe mosaic find offers new evidence of its Hellenistic past

A South Korean-Turkish excavation team has uncovered remains believed to be part of a Hellenistic-era mosaic floor at Kultepe in central Turkey, researchers announced on Thursday, October 29, according to Yonhap News Agency. The find offers evidence of a later chapter at a site whose earlier excavation and research focused largely on the Bronze Age.

Researchers from South Korea’s National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ankara University reported the discovery. Yonhap described it as the first trace of a mosaic-style building floor reflecting Hellenistic construction techniques found at Kultepe since excavations began there in 1948. The Hellenistic period ran from 323 to 30 BC, but the building’s precise construction date has yet to be established.

What the Kultepe mosaic excavation uncovered

The Korea Herald reported that the joint team began excavating east of the Warshama Palace in 2025. It described a floor foundation made with broken stones and fine soil after the ground was leveled. Yonhap reported four distinct cultural layers from different parts of the Hellenistic era alongside the mosaic, with overlapping traces of buildings, floors, walls, waterways and entrances.

Why a Hellenistic floor matters at Kultepe

Kultepe lies about 20 kilometers northeast of Kayseri and was occupied from around 3,000 BC through the Roman era, according to Yonhap. The site is associated with the Bronze Age kingdom of Kanesh, also called Nesha, and with ancient Assyrian merchants. Clay tablets from its lower city document traders’ commercial activities and daily lives about 4,000 years ago, The Korea Herald reported. That Bronze Age record has been a major focus of earlier work at the site.

Fikri Kulakoglu, an Ankara University researcher, said at a Seoul press conference that the excavation could show Kultepe had large residential complexes and temples during the Hellenistic period, The Korea Herald reported. That is his interpretation of what further work may establish; the exposed floor alone does not settle the building’s function or its relationship to nearby structures.

The team plans to resume excavation from May to July 2027, concentrating on when the building was constructed and how it relates to surrounding spaces, Yonhap reported. Researchers also plan to study animal bones found at the site, including cattle, sheep and wild boar, and to make 3D measurements and measured drawings of finds.