A 4,500-year-old jar has been discovered in southern Turkey.

According to local media, a 4,500-year-old jar was discovered in southern Turkey on Sunday.

The ancient building was discovered among several pots and food remains at Yumuktepe Hoyuk, one of the region’s earliest towns near the seaside city of Mersin.

A team of 25 people led by Isabella Caneva, an archaeological professor at the Italy’s University of Lecce, found the artefact.

She thinks it’s from the Middle Bronze Age.

“We believe this is a location where public or ceremonial meals are conducted or food is provided to the general people,” Caneva told Anadolu Agency.

Caneva stated that a number of pots and bowls were discovered at the site.

“These bowls are all the same and have been mass-produced. This structure housed around 700 bowls. This is a large space for a typical household or restaurant “Caneva said.

Yumukepte village has been dated to 7,000 BC, including Neolithic, Bronze, Iron Age, and Roman era remains.

British archaeologist John Garstang, the founder of the British Institute of Archeology in Ankara, uncovered the site in the 1930s.

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Among the various artefacts discovered, including arrowheads and pots, an old seal going back 9,000 years was discovered there in 2018.

Every season, Caneva told Anadolu Agency, major discoveries concerning the life, economics, and society of ancient civilisations are made during excavations at the site.

Header image: A number of ancient artefacts have been discovered at the settlement, including a 9,000-year-old seal [source: Getty]