Turkish Engineers discovered the ruins of an ancient Byzantine port as they drilled a huge underground rail tunnel. The ancient port, which is at least 1500 years old, harbored abandoned buildings, crumbling walls, trash and broken wine bottles.

It is common for residents of most great historic cities to uncover important relics each time they dig deep into the earth. But there was more to the uncovering of the ancient port in the Yenikapi neighborhood.

The site has grown into the largest archaeological dig in Istanbul's history. The experts were surprised to stumble on the ruins of the ancient port. However, archaeologists knew from ancient documents that the port was somewhere around Yenikapi.

Dubbed the "Port of Theodosius," it was named after the emperor of Rome and Byzantium who died in A.D. 395. The discovery will help to throw more light onto the commercial life in the city at the time. The city was once called Constantinople, and it was once the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The AP quotes Dr. Cemal Pulak, of Texas A&M University and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Turkey, as saying, "This was the ancient harbor of Byzantium, the Theodosian harbor." Pulak said, "When I came here and saw those ships, the lower part built by the ancient method, the upper part by the modern method, it was more or less the missing link."