Ancient cemetery and avenue of sarcophagi discovered in Türkiye

An ancient cemetery that was used for a thousand years is being excavated in the ancient city of Teos in the Black Sea region of northern Turkey. The excavation work that began three years ago discovered the cemetery on the east side of the city. It is huge, and in the three years of excavation, 96 sarcophagi, 23 burial chambers, 7 sarcophagus tombs, 60 tile tombs and 1,317 funerary objects have been discovered so far.

Theos is the only ancient city in the Black Sea region that has not been the site of a modern settlement. This is extremely valuable to archaeologists because it reveals a complete extant archaeological record, which, in terms of cemeteries, dates from the end of the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD.

Most of the tombs date back to the 1st to 3rd century AD, when Theos was part of the Roman Empire. The cemetery was planned as a real city of the time, with avenues, terraces and tombs as “homes”.

[Excavation leader Professor Şahin] Yıldırım mentioned that they found a street about 500 meters (1,640.42 feet) long with sarcophagi on both sides, and tombs were found on slopes and ridges, believed to belong to people with higher income levels at the time. He pointed out that they found many remains, especially in the area of ​​sarcophagi dating back to the second and third centuries AD.

Yildirim said they have catalogued more than a thousand artifacts, which are now kept at the Karadeniz Erelig Museum Administration.

He said they have gained a lot of important information about the Roman period, saying: “We found some discoveries, tombstones and inscriptions that show that in the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a large part of the city’s inhabitants received the right to become citizens of the Roman Empire. We found some graves that are believed to be those of Roman soldiers.”

Yildirim stressed the importance of the ancient city, explaining: “So far, no cemetery like this has been found in any ancient city in the Black Sea region. This area is of great importance for Turkish and Black Sea archaeology. This cemetery is well-preserved and its structure is largely intact, and it has survived to this day.”

Ancient Theos had no defensive walls or defense systems, which meant it was often attacked. Cemeteries were also targeted, and many grave goods were stolen. When the Goths invaded in the mid-3rd century, they stole the precious burial objects. After the Goths left, the people of Theos regrouped, reorganized the damaged sarcophagi and tombs, and then continued their previous work as if they had never been interrupted.

The human remains found in some of the tombs are currently being studied. Preliminary examinations have shown that some of the deceased were related to each other and buried in family groups. Inscriptions in the tombs confirm that these tombs were used as family mausoleums.