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The oldest known seed remains of Ankara's endemic "love flower," or Centaurea, have been identified inside a 4,000-year-old Hittite vessel uncovered at Kulhoyuk, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced.
The flower today grows only in the Golbasi district of Ankara, according to Ersoy, who said the discovery came out of ongoing excavations at Kulhoyuk, a settlement associated with the Hatti and Hittite civilizations.
Ersoy said the finding was bringing another part of Ankara's 5,000-year history to light, with the ancient seeds providing evidence that the plant was present in the region thousands of years ago.
The "love flower" is currently under protection and received a geographical indication in 2019, a designation identifying its connection with a particular geographical area.
Ersoy said traces of the plant stretching back thousands of years were also opening up a new window into the history of Anatolia's rich flora.
He added that new findings would continue to shed light on Kulhoyuk's history and thanked the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums and the specialist teams involved in the excavation.
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