Historic natural stone floors are extremely beautiful and astonishingly long-lasting, but given that they can be vulnerable to surface stains, blemishes and scratches, it is important to ensure they are protected, sealed and a specialist is on standby to help restore them.
This is part of the reason why particularly ancient decorative stone floors, particularly those featuring carvings and mosaics, can sometimes be excavated and discovered in astonishingly good condition, whilst in other cases they can be barely recognisable.
The oldest decorative stone floor, where the stonework is not used merely for its practical benefits but for its aesthetic appeal, is believed to be at Usakli Hoyuk, an ancient city and temple in central Turkiye that has been dated to around 1500 BC.
The settlement itself, which was of Hittite origin, features a temple featuring a distinct patterned mosaic floor, with patterns of white and black-blue stone that are parallel to the outer walls.
This suggests that the mosaic was constructed at the same time as the building itself, rather than later occupants and would therefore make it the earliest use of patterns and decoration on a stone floor that is known about.
Other excavation sites of Hittite origin also feature paved floors using flagstone or compacted cobblestone, but these stones were not chosen or arranged in a particular pattern like the one at Usakli Hoyuk, and there has been speculation as to what the patterns represent.
Some have suggested them to be bands or geometric shapes, whilst others have claimed that the sometimes irregular designs are instead a type of cuneiform, with the floor spelling out specific instructions similar to painted markings on a road or the floor of an industrial building today.The site itself is believed by some historians to be the lost ancient city of Zippalanda, a holy city that was a centre of religion, annual festivals and an administrative hub of the Hittite Empire.