Archaeological excavations carried out in the İnkaya Cave, discovered in 2016 in the Bahadırlı village of Çan district of Çanakkale and dated to 86 thousand BC, will be carried out under the sponsorship of a mining company operating in different provinces of Türkiye.

With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History-Geography, Anthropology Department, Paleoanthropology Department Lecturer Prof. Dr. Truva Bakır Maden İşletmeleri AŞ, one of the Cengiz Holding group companies, sponsored the İnkaya Cave Excavation, carried out under the chairmanship of İsmail Özer, for the third time.

Çanakkale Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Çağman Esirgemez, in his speech at the İnkaya Cave Excavation sponsorship signing ceremony held in a hotel in the city, said that 9 excavations in Çanakkale with a presidential decree continue with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the oldest of these is the İnkaya Cave Excavation, which dates back to the historical period.

Stating that the İnkaya Cave Excavation is the first and only scientific cave excavation in Çanakkale, Esirgemez said, "We are proud that there is an excavation in Çanakkale that belongs to the earliest period in terms of dating and that Truva Bakır Maden İşletmeleri AŞ is sponsoring this excavation. Because the number of scientific cave excavations is very few in Türkiye and the ones we do have seem to remain in the background as they do not show much visually for visitors. Having such valuable sponsorships makes our cave excavations possible." "It's slowly coming to the fore." he said.

Touching on the importance of supporting scientific archaeological excavations that revive and direct the tourism of a province, Esirgemez said, "The first element that nourishes and develops tourism is cultural tourism. That is why our scientific archaeological excavations are so valuable to us." he said.

İnkaya Cave Excavation Head and Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History-Geography, Anthropology Department, Paleoanthropology Department Lecturer Prof. Dr. İsmail Özer also reminded that İnkaya Cave Excavation started its 10th season this year.

Stating that there are 10 paleolithic cave excavations in Türkiye, Özer said, "We concentrated our excavation activities in the area in the western part of the cave for 10 years. This year, at the end of the excavations here, we will start the excavations in the inner parts of the western mouth of the cave. We are not content with just carrying out the excavations in the cave. We plan to start tourism activities with various promotional projects and events." he said.

Truva Bakır Business Manager Ünsal Dost also stated that they are celebrating the third anniversary of the İnkaya Cave Excavation this year within the scope of the "Cengiz Holding Reveals All Underground Ore Project".

Stating that as the excavation of the Inkaya Cave, which is a very important transition point for human history, progresses, the tourism and cultural potential of the city will be valued at the same rate, Dost said, "As a result of these projects, we are aware that there is a lot of potential waiting to be unearthed in Çanakkale." he said.

Friend stated that they are now approaching the end of the mining project, which has been going on for more than 5 years, and continued his words as follows:

"We are about to complete our activities with a very intense field activity for about a year. Within the scope of this project, it is a project that will use approximately 90 million tons of reserves and contribute 2.5 billion dollars to the country's economy. We act with the principle of sustainable mining. We can say that our facility is the only industrial facility in the environment that does not use groundwater. Since the region is a forest area, tree cutting is in question. Approximately 140 thousand trees were cut down, in return, we have a commitment to plant 1 million trees within the scope of the project. 250 thousand of them as of the beginning of this year. planted."

After the speeches, Esirgemez and Dost signed the İnkaya Cave Excavation sponsorship agreement.