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Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed a 1,500-year-old Christian amulet containing a paper-thin sheet of gold — and experts believe it may contain a biblical passage.
The discovery, made at the Türkmen Karahöyük archaeological site in Konya, central Turkey, was reported by Turkish state media outlet Anadolu Agency (AA) earlier this summer.
An international team of roughly 60 researchers from 13 countries was excavating the site when the amulet was discovered.
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The amulet dates back to the fourth or fifth centuries A.D. — a formative time in Christian history.
Inside its copper case is a thin, 0.1-millimeter gold sheet on which a passage from the Bible was "most likely" written, AA reported. It is still unclear which biblical passage it contains.
Archaeologists in Turkey recently unearthed a 1,500-year-old Christian amulet containing a paper-thin sheet of gold at Türkmen Karahöyük. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images; Serhat Cetinkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Pictures show the amulet as a small, dark and heavily corroded artifact — with researchers carefully examining and cleaning it.
Excavation co-director Michele Rüzgar Massa told AA that these types of amulets "are not very common."
"As far as we know, one similar example was found in Germany," said Massa, who added that the amulet likely belonged to a small child.
"In other words, you can think of it like an evil-eye charm," he said.
Researchers believe the thin gold sheet inside the Christian amulet "most likely" contains a passage from the Bible. (Serhat Cetinkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Archaeologists also found older artifacts, including a stone seal with a hieroglyphic Luwian inscription.
The Luwians were an ancient people who inhabited parts of Anatolia during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and the seal dates back to roughly 1500-1400 B.C.
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Archaeologists also found two copper seals and a clay seal impression.
Massa told AA the stone seal bears the name "Kurunti-ziti," which is linked to Kurunta, an important god in the Hittite world.
Archaeologists also uncovered a stone seal bearing a hieroglyphic Luwian inscription dating to roughly 1500–1400 B.C. (Serhat Cetinkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
"This person did not hold a very high-ranking position, but we can nevertheless see a hierarchy belonging to the bureaucracy and the state," Massa said of the person named on the stone seal.
"We can say that this was a major administrative center around 1500-1400 B.C.," he added.
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Deputy excavation director Hüseyin Erpehlivan told AA that the archaeological site "occupies an important place in terms of Anatolian archaeology."
"Konya is located right in the center of Anatolia, in a region where cultures intersect."
"Konya is located right in the center of Anatolia, in a region where cultures intersect," he said. "Türkmen Karahöyük is not an excavation focused on a single period."
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Erpehlivan added, "We are investigating a multilayered settlement extending from the Late Hellenistic period through the Iron Age and Bronze Age and into even earlier periods."
Türkmen Karahöyük is a multilayered archaeological settlement containing evidence from the Late Hellenistic, Iron Age and Bronze Age periods. (Serhat Cetinkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The amulet is one of several remarkable finds with biblical ties to emerge from Turkey in recent months.
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Earlier this summer, archaeologists unearthed a rare, 2,500-year-old marble statue from the ruins of Sardis, an ancient city immortalized in the Book of Revelation.
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At around the same time, an ancient mosaic was uncovered in Smyrna, an archaeological site in modern-day İzmir, Turkey.
