60 Yeni Lira Bronze Age Idol

Part of a multi-year Turkish State Mint series celebrating prehistoric Anatolian artifacts, this issue draws on the Bronze Age idol figurines excavated across central Anatolia — objects that predate the Hittite empire and survive today largely through the collections of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. Turkey launched these small-format gold collector pieces in part to assert cultural ownership over an archaeological heritage that had spent decades flowing out of the country through illegal export, a problem that prompted major diplomatic disputes with Western museums through the 1990s and 2000s.