Five bodies believed to be 8,500 years old have been unearthed at a burial mound in the Akçalar area of the Marmara province of Bursa, Turkey. The bodies, comprising of two adults and three children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old, were found at the Aktopraklık mound.
     According to Associate Professor Necmi Karul, head of the prehistory department at Istanbul University's literature faculty and leader of the excavation, "Their arms were tied behind their backs, indicating that they may have been killed or sacrificed."
     Although it is too early to tell particular details, such as whether the bodies belonged to a single family, Karul described how one of the children was found hogtied whilst the others were found between the legs of the adults. Karul said that the team have been working at the site every summer for the past seven years, "We have reached very important traces of Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. The information will not only enlighten Bursa history but serve for all humanity," he said.
     The site has previously shown that living areas were surrounded by moats, but Karul said that the archeological team have also unearthed  special constructions that would have belonged to administrators of the region.

Edited from Daily News and Economic Review (16 September 2010)