Archaeologists excavate Roman necropolis on the Black Sea coast: over 1000 valuable artifacts found

Turkish researchers have discovered a large Roman necropolis on the Black Sea coast. During the excavations, about 200 burials and more than a thousand valuable funerary artifacts were found.

According to archaeologists, they managed to excavate a large alley lined with sarcophagi in the ancient city of Thios. And this is a unique discovery, as no such large necropolises have been found in this region before, HeritageDaily reports.

The city of Thios, named after its founder, a priest in the VII century BC, was an ancient Greek colony. It is located near the modern port of Philos in Turkey. Unlike other Greek colonies along the Black Sea coast, Thios is well preserved. Therefore, its archaeological heritage has come down to our contemporaries.

Turkish archaeologists who excavated ancient Thios discovered a large Roman necropolis on the eastern side of the city. So far, the researchers have unearthed 96 sarcophagi, 23 chamber burials, 7 cist graves, 60 frame tile graves, and more than 1300 funerary items.

According to the researchers, the necropolis covers a huge area and contains burials dating from the fifth century BC to the fifth century AD. The most active burials here were in the I-III centuries AD. During this Roman period, the local settlement turned into a "city of the dead."

"We can see that the necropolis was built according to a plan consisting of streets, alleys, and terraces, like a city. But so far, no ancient city in the Black Sea region has ever seen a necropolis of this scale. This area is of great importance for the archaeology of Turkey and the Black Sea," said Shahin Yıldırım, the head of the excavations, a professor at Bartin University.

The archaeologists also discovered an alley measuring approximately 500 meters in length in which the sarcophagi were deliberately placed on the left and right sides. Archaeologists assume that these burials belonged to wealthy individuals, mostly of the II-III centuries AD.

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