Ancient of Days

[stickmaker]

 
Most archeologists thought there was nothing in the empty area west of Istanbul. However, the first person to perform an extensive dig has found an area inhabited - perhaps continuously - from 800,000 BC (yes, that's eight hundred thousand years) until an earthquake in the 18 Century AD. 

There's a two-page segment on the area in the November issue of Discover. 

The work there is known as the Bathonea excavations. 

http://bathonea.org/eng/eng-index.html