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An Underwater Dive to see the Sunken Basilica Up Close

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Archaeologist Mustafa Şahin and geologist Julia de Sigoyer explore the sunken ruins of a 4th-century basilica in Turkey’s Lake Iznik. Of particular interest are the many tombs found along the inside of the building.

TRANSCRIPT

To get a better sense of the ruins, Julia and Mustafa suit up for a dive to explore the basilica together, up close.

♪♪ ♪♪ Julia notices some large stone blocks that might have moved during major earthquakes... ♪♪ ...while Mustafa is intrigued by the many tombs dotted around the interior of the basilica.

♪♪ ♪♪ -[ Speaking in Turkish ] -When we started our excavations here, the first thing we were surprised by was all the tombs inside the building and all around it.

What were they doing there?

Why were they there?

And some of them were even underneath the foundations of the building!

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