Approximately 14,500 artifacts have been unearthed during rescue excavations carried out over 33 years at Seyitömer Mound in Turkey's western Kütahya province, Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Zekeriya Ünal said.

Seyitömer Mound, which dates to the third century B.C., is located in the work area of the Çelikler Seyitömer Electricity Generation Corporation, 26 kilometers (16 miles) from the city's center.

The excavation of the mound, which had an original height of 26 meters (85 feet), width of 140 meters and length of 150 meters, was initiated by the Eskişehir Museum Directorate in 1989 to bring 12 million tons of lignite under it into the economy.

The mound was excavated by the Afyonkarahisar Museum Directorate between the years 1990 and 1995. The DPÜ Archaeology Department took over the excavations in 2006. The excavation team consisting of academic staff, students and workers continued working in the mound until 2014. The excavations have been run by the Kütahya Museum Directorate for the last three years.

Thanks to these studies in Seyitömer, artifacts belonging to six different periods, including the Roman and Hellenistic periods, the Iron Age, the Middle Bronze Age, and the third and second periods of the Early Bronze Age, were introduced to Anatolian archaeology.

Informing that the Archaeology and Mine Museum is being constructed in Kütahya, Ünal also added that most of the unearthed artifacts will be on display at this museum.