1500-year-old mosaic from the historic mill

Work has been initiated to open a privately owned historical mill, located in the Beyazsu recreation area of ​​the Sivrice Neighborhood of the Çağ Çağ Stream Valley between the Midyat and Nusaybin districts, to tourism.

While cleaning, the property owners found mosaics on the floor of the mill and notified the Mardin Museum Directorate.

Work has begun to register the area. The Ministry of Tourism has also instructed rescue efforts.

During the rescue excavation, mosaic floor coverings of different colors were found in two areas inside the mill.

In the mosaic floors, geometric shapes such as square, rectangle, circle and triangle, as well as wave, knot, cross and infinity motifs, and an inscription reading Tittos Domestikos were found.

Mardin Museum director İdris Akgül said the following about the mosaic:

"The mill was built as an extension in later periods. The remains of the building where the mosaic was found date back to an earlier date. Our excavations on the mosaic floor revealed mostly geometric motifs."

"What pleases and excites us most is the inscription on the mosaic. The inscription consists of two words (Tittos Domestikos). Tittos is a proper name, but when we look at Domestikos, it appears more as a title in the sources."

"It is known that people with this title mostly served as officials in military departments and churches. We unearthed a mosaic of nearly 40 square meters."

"There are medallions in the form of knot motifs on the main panels, and inside these medallions, geometric shapes and motifs that we can describe as crosses have been identified. When we look at the building remains, the space expands towards other plots."

"Although we do not know exactly what it was in the first stage, we can say from the inscription that this was a building belonging to a civilian administrator."