Sanliurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum The Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum is a large museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey that contains a collection of artifacts and ruins from the ancient city of Edessa, as well as the nearby city of Harran and the hydroelectric dam reservoirs at Atatürk Dam, Birecik Dam, and Karkamis Dam. Spanning an area of 34,000 square meters (370,000 square feet), the museum is one of the largest in Turkey and is divided into two sections - the mosaic section and the archaeology section. In addition to exhibition halls, the museum also features offices, a laboratory, a library, restaurants, and playgrounds for children. The mosaic section contains several notable mosaics, including the mosaic of Orpheus. Created in Sanliurfa in 184 A.D., the mosaic was discovered in the city in 1980 and is now housed in the Şanlıurfa Museum. However, it was originally taken from the Dallas Museum of Art through illegal means and returned to Turkey in 2015. The archaeology section is divided into four exhibition halls, showcasing artifacts from the Old Assyrian, Babylonian, and Hittite eras, as well as the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze eras. The collection includes stone tools, terracotta ceramics, stamps, pottery jars, necklaces, figurines of idols, metallic implements like axes and knives used in farming, and bronze rings used to tighten ropes around containers. The museum's most significant artifact is a 9,500-year-old life-size human sculpture, the oldest of its kind ever discovered. The museum's ethnographic section features clothing, silver and bronze ornaments, crafts, doors with inscriptions, calligraphy examples, and hand-written Korans. Various archaeological items are also displayed in the museum's yard.