Story By: Les Steed, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

Turkish archaeologists have found a 4000-year-old loom that includes a massive handloom, one of the oldest ever found.

The loom and its accessories were discovered at the Beycesultan Mound in the southwestern Denizli province where the team has recently uncovered the ancient textile mill.

The find is part of a discovery that was made last year and filling in the details has been a major part of this year’s dig.

Lead archaeologist Esref Abay said that the Beycesultan mill is believed to have been built even earlier, 7,000 years ago in about 5,000 B.C. and was one of the largest settlements in Anatolia at the time.

The team has found 40 consecutive cultural layers dating from the Late Chalcolithic Period (5,500 – 3,000 B.C.) up to the Late Bronze Age (2,000 -1,200 B.C.) at the site.

Abay said that there is evidence that the factory was once burned down, but some parts survived.

The many treasures unearthed over the years include thousands of loom weights, large storage rooms and objects believed to have been imported from surrounding regions.

Archaeologists believe that these discoveries proved that Beycesultan was a major textile producer, and this extended the history of textiles in Denizli to a wider time period than previously thought.

Abay said: “We found the structure here dating back to 1700 B.C. We think that it belonged to a wealthy family due to its size and rich equipment.

“Findings that are thought to have been imported from the surrounding regions, were found inside this house, which has very large storage rooms,”

The house contained a 45-square-metre (484-square-foot) central room that was used as a workshop, as well as five other rooms used for different purposes.

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