Turkey is the world’s treasure house for ancient antiques. Given Turkish water shortages and attempts to harness the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from flooding large areas, former Turkish President Turgut Ozal’s government decided about 30 years ago to build 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric plants to the detriment of the wealth of ancient treasures. The decision to build dams disregarded the destruction of priceless and historical artifacts that would be lost below the water.

The race against time began in the 1990’s. In 1999, the Birecik dam was completed and filled with water by the beginning of 2001, covering much of Zeugma, an ancient Roman city on the Euphrates (meaning bridgehead or place of crossing). Although archeologists were given a short breather it was not long enough to excavate more than a fraction of the ancient treasures.

The water from Birecik now covers much of Zeugma and resulted in an irretrievable loss of Roman mosaics, paintings, statues, and artifacts at deeper levels from earlier times.

Besides Zeugma, there are many other historical sites in Turkey, rich with historical artifacts, buried beneath layers of dirt. Water from the reservoirs now covers many of these historical sites and traces of humankind’s past are lost forever. Although not all is covered by water, water and silt from reservoirs are slowly covering the surrounding underground areas and destroying the dry areas that were ideal for preserving these ancient treasures.

In 1987, Turkey’s Gazinatep Museum found many small statutes and wall frescos in two rock grave chambers in the Zeugma area, already extensively looted by antiquity robbers. Museum staff was able to excavate frescos on the walls and statutes.

In 1992 Rifat Ergec from the Gzaiantep Museum staff excavated one of the Roman villa’s beautifully preserved mosaics. They found galleries around an eight column atrium, a number of rooms, and a mosaic showing the marriage of Dionysus (the wine god) to Ariadne.

In 1993 on the other side of the Euphrates from Zeugma, an ancient Greek city was discovered beneath the earth, albeit too late for excavation. The waters for Birecik were coming in too fast.

In 1995, Pierre Leriche and Catherine Abadie-Ryenal, French archeologists, accepted the challenge to excavate as much as possible. They used remote-sensing technologies, such as aerial photography. Geographic information systems (GIS), ground penetrating radar (GPR) and geophysical diffraction tomography (GDT), and others, instead of the time-old digging until one hit the right spot, to find locations of the artifacts.

At the Zeugma site, they discovered 36 breath-taking Roman mosaic panels in a fourteen-room villa. Among them were mosaic pictures of a Gypsy Girl, believed to be Gaea, goddess of the earth; Poseidon, Oceanus and Tehtys, the water deities; Eros, the god of love; Demeter, goddess of agriculture; the re-known warrior Achilles; and the wedding of Ariadne and Dionysus.

Uncovered during the race for time were also a marble figure of Apollolo; close to 80,000 pottery bowls from 320 graves dating back to the bronze age; 100,000 bullas (seal imprints in clay) in an archive room at Yskeleüstü; a fountain with a tank, and much more. Many artifacts were found under three meters of debris, keeping them safe from thieves and preserving them from the ravages of time. All excavated treasures are housed in Turkey’s Gaziantep Museum.

The fabled city Zeugma was located on the banks of the Euphrates in Turkey, at one of the two most suitable spots for crossing this river. In 300 BC, Seleukos I Nikador, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, founded Zeugma. From 64 B.C., the Romans ruled Zeugma and made it into one of its three Eastern military bases, keeping one of their legendary legions, the Scythian Legion there.

Zeugma was strategically located on the Silk Road, linking China and Antiach. It also was the most important trade route for timber and precious metals trade between Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Magnificent villas, filled with statues, frescos, and eye-catching mosaics were built. The city prospered until in 256 A.D., when Zeugma was conquered and burned to the ground by Sapur I, the King of the Sassanian Empire. Shortly after the fire, an earthquake destroyed whatever was left and buried the city under a layer of rubble.