The Uşak Museum of Archaeology ( tr, Uşak Arkeoloji Müzesi) is an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

museum in Uşak in western Turkey. Founded on May 23, 1970, the museum is best known for its exhibitions of

Karun treasure Karun Treasure is the name given to a collection of 363 valuable Lydian artifacts dating from the 7th century BC and originating from Uşak Province in western Turkey, which were the subject of a legal battle between Turkey and New York Metropol ...

. In the museum, items on display include sculptures, pitchers with beaklike spouts and

stone axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or che ...

s from the Bronze Age, earthen dishes and glassware from the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

Period, and stelae from the nearby Roman ancient ruin site of Blaundus. The most interesting items are of the so-called Karun treasure belonging to the

Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

n Period.

Karun treasure

The artifacts, making a collection of 363 pieces, date back to the 7th century BCE. They were illegally excavated by villagers in 1966 from the tomb of a Lydian noble woman, smuggled outside the country and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, USA. After their discovery in a catalogue of the museum in 1984, Turkish journalist

Özgen Acar Özgen is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abdulkadir Özgen (born 1986), Turkish-German footballer * Pemra Özgen Pemra Özgen (born 8 May 1986) is a Turkish tennis player. Özgen has won 18 singles and 23 double ...

informed the Turkish government, which launched a judicial case against The Met. After a legal battle, the collection was returned in 1993 to Turkey.

Museum theft case

In 2006 two items in the Karun Treasure (Lydian Hoard) were discovered to be fakes, with the originals having been stolen. The pieces were a coin and a golden brooch in the form of a hippocamp (a winged sea-horse). Kazım Akbıyıkoğlu, the director of the museum, was accused of the theft, and he and 10 others were arrested. Akbıyıkoğlu admitted guilt, blaming gambling debts. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In November 2012, it was announced that the golden brooch would be returned to Turkey. The returned piece was temporarily displayed in Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, before being returned to the Uşak Museum of Archaeology.

References

External links

Karun Treasure Book

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usak Museum Of Archaeology Archaeological museums in Turkey Museums established in 1970 Buildings and structures in Uşak Museums in Uşak Province