Breaking tomb relievos with heavy construction equipment, the treasure hunters also dug large holes up to six meters around the hill.
Çağman Hill in Kozağacı neighborhood is home to Roman-era rock tombs as well as many tomb relievos dating back to the first and third centuries. Some of the artifacts were also shot by gun by the treasure hunters.
"Especially, stories about gold being buried under buildings that belonged to the Greek, Armenian and Georgian Christian communities in ancient Anatolia fuel the hunters drive to seek gold and vandalize these ancient artifacts. Of course, these superstitious beliefs are not true. For example, I have made excavations in the central Anatolian city of Niğde. According to anthropological studies, the dietary habits of the region today are almost same as it was back then. So we can say, during the Byzantine period a villager was as rich as a villager who live in Niğde now. So, a villager, who lived in Niğde during the period, could not leave a treasure," he said.
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