Forty-one new graves have been discovered during the ongoing excavation and restoration work underway in the Seljuk Meydan Cemetery in the Ahlat district of eastern Türkiye's Bitlis province.

In the cemetery, work is being carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism under the chairmanship of Mehmet Kulaz from the Art History Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ).

Excavation head Kulaz said that this year they have focused on the rehabilitation of a section of the cemetery that was used extensively by the Russians as the Ahlat-Tatvan highway during World War I and where great destruction occurred.

Explaining that they are working on an area of approximately 3 acres, Kulaz said, "After removing the surface soil of this area, we leveled the ground. In this process, approximately 41 new graves have been unearthed this year."

"During our works, 96 graves have also been restored so far. The gravestones of these tombs, which were broken in a few pieces, were restored and brought back to life."

According to Kulaz, 18 of the newly discovered graves belong to children. He noted that a significant number of these graves are considered special tombstones due to their ornaments and inscriptions.

Explaining that a large portion of the stones belonging to the sandukas (a type of cenotaph placed over the graves of distinguished people in Turkish-Islamic tradition) did not survive after being excavated from the ground, Kulaz said: "We are restoring the gravestones whose pieces have been identified. With our work, their integrity has been restored and they are resurrected in their original positions. But it is not possible to find the lost gravestones."

"Hopefully this year, before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrives in Ahlat, we will reach an important stage in the rehabilitation of the part that was destroyed during the Russian occupation and resembles a stream bed. In this area, we found various arhictectutal structures as well as graves while clearing the surface soil. We will have the opportunity to talk more clearly about these structures' functions after the excavation is complete."

Largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery

Scatttered across 201 acres, the Ahlat Seljuk Meydan Cemetery is the world's largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List. Offering a journey through history as an open-air museum, the cemetery features more than 8,000 graves, 1,500 of which are in perfect condition.

The tombs of the cemetery are larger than most, reaching a height of 3.5 meters (11.4 feet). They are ornamented on both sides and are famous for their interesting rectangular-prism shape. In addition to the cist graves (small graves fashioned out of stone), there are also chamber-style underground tombs, which are similar to Turkic tombs found in Central Asia. The tombs attract visitors with their majestic appearance and fine stone engravings featuring dragons, palmettes, oil lamps and geometric motifs that often focus on leaf patterns. The symbols included on the stones held great importance for Turkic people across Anatolia and Central Asia.

The historical tombstones in the cemetery are also unique with their designs carved out of stone and different shapes. The most interesting thing is that each tombstone varies in height.

While the archaeological excavations started last year in Seljuk Meydan Cemetery following the discovery of the graves of 30 children, the restoration of the tombstones has been ongoing since 2011.