The Liquid in the 17th Century Old Jar Has Been Detected

Photo of author

It was determined that the liquid in a 17th century old jar made with glass, which was found during excavations in Sivas and placed in the Archeology Museum, was olive oil.

The glass bell with its mouth covered with clay, found near the Kurtlapa village in Sivas, given to the Sivas Archeology Museum, where many finds from the Chalcolithic, Old Bronze Age and Hittites, as well as artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods are exhibited. The research was made by Sivas Cumhuriyet University (SCU) academicians.

As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the liquid inside the glass bell jar, which is considered to belong to the 3rd and 4th centuries, was olive oil.

Director of SCU Advanced Technology Research and Application Center (CUTAM) Prof. Dr. Mehmet Şimşir said, “As CÜTAM, it is one of our works to bring information such as what historical artifacts in Sivas are and what period they belong to.”

SCU Archeology Department faculty member Dr. Instructor Erden Erpehlivan said, “Before we started this study, we were working on documentation and mental energy. It is not an example we see very often in Turkish museums. This is an example found with its material. In this context, we also carried out archaeometric analyzes in it.”

This Old Jar is a Very Rare Example

CUTAM Coordinator Dr. Instructor Ebru Yavaş said, “It is an example from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. Since it is a very rare example, we especially worked on how to carry out this analysis without damaging this work. The mouth of the glass material was covered with soil and the air flow was cut off. Therefore, while taking samples from here, we were able to perform the analysis, especially with the sample we took from this clay sample. Thus, we did not damage the organic material. We allowed this sample to decompose with special techniques in our laboratory, and then we were able to analyze it. As a result, we had an idea that the substance contained in it is olive oil.”

Leave a Comment