Yesemek Quary and Statue Workshop Currently named as Yesemek Outdoor Museum, it is located by the village of Yesemek in a southeastern hillside 23km to Islahiye, Gaziantep. The hillside is covered with many gray and violet colored bazalt rocks known as dolarit. Yesemek site was first spotted by Felix Von Luschan while he was excavating at Zincirli in 1890s. The initial research and excavations were done by Prof. Bahadır Alkım between 1958–1961 and about 200 rough statues were uncovered. Yesemek is the largest known sculpture workshop in the ancient Near East. The quary was in use both in the Great Hittite period (15th-12th cent BCE) and after a period f inactivity during the Late Hittite period (9-8th cent BCE) within the Kingdom of Sam'al. Towards the hill top one can find the signs of the quary where the rock were cut out. Statues originally from Yesemek have been found in sevaral nearby Hittite sites confirming the site has been used as a quary and workshop. With recent excavations by İlhan Temizsoy, the number of statues have now exceeded 300 and more are believed to be still under ground. In recent years the site was organized into an outdoor museum by the commissioning of Gaziantep Museum Administration. 36°54.290 N - 36°44.730 E Google Earth location (exact) Click on pictures for a larger image.

Sphinxes

Gate Lions

Mountain Gods

Bear-man and others

The Quary

Image sources:
Tayfun Bilgin, Bora Bilgin, Ertugrul Anil, 2009.
Ataman Hotel Photo Gallery, Abbas Ataman.
Tayfun Bilgin, 2007.