TÜRKÇE
The Statue Base with Lions
The basalt base, which displays two lions and a keeper holding them by collars, was found in situ right next to the Royal Buttress (see the photo from excavations). Originally, statue of a standing male, possibly representing an ancestral ruler, was placed on it. In 1914 excavator Leonard Woolley had restored the lower part of the statue (see the image from 1919 below) from the fragments he found, but after 1919 it was destroyed again, and all that remains of the standing statue today is the head (in the Louvre Museum). The base is very similar to the one found at the King's Gate in Karkamış and almost identical to the ones found at Zincirli and Tell Tayinat. The base is about 1.2 meters wide and 1 meter long and is currently on display in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara. The head of one of the lions is in the British Museum.
