Artifacts in world's first baptistery cleaned

Around 1,000 artifacts that have been unearthed during archaeological excavations in the Cultural Faith Park in the southeastern province of Mardin's Nusaybin district have been meticulously cleaned in preparation for a publication on the area.

The park, which is believed to be the site of the world's first baptistery and was included on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list three years ago, is a complex that is home to the Zeynel Abidin Mosque and Mor Yakup (Saint Jacob) Church. 

"We have unearthed candles, tear bottles, coins, metal tools, dwelling typology, architecture and the cathedral in the city," said Mardin Museum Director Nihat Erdoğan.

The Mardin Museum has been leading excavations at the Cultural Faith Park since 2000. Three years ago, UNESCO moved to include the park on its tentative protection list. During excavation works, archaeologists unearthed the foundations of a structure that was one of the largest churches in the Middle East and served as the Nusaybin Cathedral in the past, as well as architectural structures from the Artuqid dynasty period. 

After it was revealed that the church's foundation continued through to the Zeynel Abidin Mosque, the concrete houses between the church and the mosque were expropriated and demolished. The excavation works continued on an area of 5,000 square meters until 2014. 

The works revealed that the Mor Yakup Church, which was built in 320, was the oldest surviving baptistery in the world before being converted into a church in the eighth century. 

The Mardin Museum formed a special team of archaeologists, art historians and restorers in preparation for the publication of thousands of ceramic, metal, glass and stone artifacts that have been unearthed over 15...