16-million-year-old fish fossil found in western Turkey
A fossil of a fish believed to date back some 16 million years has been discovered in western Turkey, a Turkish geophysical engineer reported Thursday. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Abdullah Sipahi said he found the fossil in a sedimentary rock during coal exploration in Alatepe, Milas in Turkey's Muğla province.
"This fish living in the lake died and after falling on the lake bed, it was covered over time as a result of sedimentation," he explained. "Then the lake dried and the areas with fossils were exposed."
In Milas an important center during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras and the capital of the Mentese Chiefdom animal fossils dating back millions of years have come to light in the surrounding coal basins.
Murat Gül, an engineering professor at Muğla's Sıtkı Koçman University, said that similar fossils were found in coal sites in the Yatağan district during mineral exploration in the 1980s.
https://www.dailysabah.com/history/2018/10/04/16-million-year-old-fish-fossil-found-in-western-turkeys-mugla