A cylindrical seal dating back approximately 4 thousand years was unearthed in the excavations of Kütahya Tavşanlı Höyük, which is being carried out under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Erkan Fidan, Head of the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of our university.

The fact that ceramic seals similar to those found in Kültepe and Acemhöyük, the great trade centres of Central Anatolia, were also found in the excavations in Tavşanlı stands out as a discovery proving the existence of other trade routes between east and west in ancient times. It also shows that the area where Tavşanlı Höyük is located was part of the economic networks in ancient times and that Western Anatolia was strategically located on trade routes.

The Kütahya Tavşanlı Höyük excavations, which are carried out in cooperation with our university and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, were selected as the archaeological discovery of the year after Göbeklitepe in Turkey last year.

We congratulate Prof. Dr. Fidan and his team and wish them success in their work.