An excavation team discovered a 1500-year-old Byzantine church in Turkey's northwestern province of Edirne, independent news site T24 reported.

A professor with Trakya University's Art History Department Engin Beksac, who is heading the excavation team in the ancient site of Sinanköy, said the church appears to have been built around approximately 500 AD and is among the oldest in the region.

The footing stones of the building are in good condition, according to the excavation team which has thus far unearthed the base of the church.

There are remnants from ancient Thracians in Sinankoy, Beksac said, while noting it was an important Byzantine city in the Middle Ages.

The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, included parts of southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa during the 500's AD.