The Maraş elephant
A complete skeleton of an extinct elephant from the region's ancient marshes, and the piece children remember.
Ingeborg Simon — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
The skeleton of an extinct elephant stood in a locked hall for three and a half years, then welcomed visitors again in mid-August 2026. That is the first thing to know about the Gaziantep Archaeology Museum today: it closed after the February 2023 earthquakes for structural reinforcement and a new roof, and reopened with the entire display rebuilt, 102 new cases and 327 objects shown for the first time. Anyone visiting Gaziantep this year sees the museum in the best shape it has been since it opened in 1969. Let us be blunt: this is not the Zeugma museum. The famous mosaics were shown here until 2011, when they moved to their vast purpose-built home a few minutes' walk away. What remained is three modest blocks telling the longer, quieter story: fossils and the first stone tools, the Late Hittite kingdom of Carchemish on the Euphrates, the Roman garrison at Zeugma, and on through Islamic and Ottoman pieces. The arrangement is chronological, the rooms are small, and you will rarely share them with more than a handful of people. Worth stopping for: the Maraş elephant, an extinct species that once waded the region's marshes; the Katumuwa stele from Zincirli, with its 8th-century BC Aramaic inscription; and a 3,700-year-old clay flask from Carchemish painted with a grinning face that made headlines worldwide as the 'oldest emoji'. In the Roman section a marble relief of Mithras, the only archaeological trace of that cult found at Zeugma, sits beside the helmets and armour of the Fourth Scythian Legion. Allow about an hour. The floors are level and pushchair-friendly, and the elephant alone will keep children happy. The sensible plan is to make it the second stop after Zeugma on the same morning: the ticket is cheap and the two museums are a short walk apart. In July and August Gaziantep tops 38°C, and an air-conditioned hour here is a decent refuge between the bazaar and the next plate of künefe.
A complete skeleton of an extinct elephant from the region's ancient marshes, and the piece children remember.
A 3,700-year-old flask from Carchemish with a grinning face that went round the world as the 'oldest emoji'.
The only trace of the Mithras cult at Zeugma, shown for the first time beside the Fourth Scythian Legion's helmets and armour.
İncilipınar Mah., İstasyon Cad. No:2, Şehitkamil
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Zeugma Mosaic MuseumThis museum exists because of a dam. When the Birecik reservoir began rising ove12 minutes walk4.7Yes if you have a spare hour, no if you are short on time. Zeugma is the unmissable one, but this museum is a few minutes' walk away, costs only about EUR 4, and shows what Zeugma does not: the extinct elephant, the Hittite finds from Carchemish and the Roman legion's kit. Pair them in one morning.