Just before Sassanid army of King Shapur I. reached Zeugma, the Roman inhabitants fled. Their city was burned down and destroyed, never to be rebuild again. The rubble covered the site and preserved it incredibly well. Archeologists had to dig the mosaics out from depth of 3-5 meters. They had to hurry too. The waters of the new dam were raising and it was known the site will be engulfed soon. This treasure is now in the Archeological museum in Gaziantep, SE Turkey.
The 1st mozaic is displayed under cool lights to show off the colours [It is unclear but it's also quite possible this mosaic was found elsewhere in the area}. The rest of mosaics, which are much bigger, are displayed under warmer lights, therefore the colour difference.
Museum (size of the mozaics is absolutely amazing, so is their state of preservation!)
The bottom of a fountain:
Centerpiece of a floor mosaic:
(to understand the size check the photo of the museum indoor, top left you see a man, on his right you see a mosaic, this one is the one, I'm showing here only the central part sans the geometric borders)
Detail of a floor mosaic:
Full mosaic:
Detail of the mosaic above:
Detail of another one:
Geometry was also prized:
Datails are so good that mosaics resemble paintings:
...and there were more. Some not even displayed yet due to lack of space. Next year they open a new, purpose built museum. In the mean time we'll have to make do with the book we bought that shows them all.
Verdict - worth going to Gaziantep just for this.
Extra - one more house remains, on the spot and will be turned into an open air museum. One day...
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