Why Were Tombs Filled With Artjewely and Other Treasures
400 stone-cut chamber tombs, filled with wall paintings and treasures, discovered in Turkey
Archaeologists in Turkey take discovered 400 rock-cutting sleeping room tombs that date to ane,800 years agone and make up part of one of the largest rock-cut chamber tomb necropolises in the earth.
The team found the tombs in the ancient city of Blaundos (also spelled Blaundus), located about 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey. The city was founded during the time of Alexander the Dandy and existed through the Roman and Byzantine periods.
The tombs are filled with sarcophagi, many of which incorporate multiple deceased individuals — a inkling that families used these tombs for burials over many generations, said Birol Tin, an archaeologist at Uşak University in Turkey and head of the Blaundos Earthworks Project.
"We remember that the Blaundos stone-cut tomb chambers, in which there are many sarcophagi, were used as family tombs, and that the tombs were reopened for each deceased family unit member, and a burying ceremony was held and closed again," Can told Live Science in an e-mail.
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The city of Blaundos sits on a hill surrounded by a valley, which is actually a branch of the vast Uşak canyons, i of the longest canyon systems in the world, Can said. The people of Blaundos congenital the necropolis into the slopes of the canyon. "Due to the rocky nature of the slopes surrounding the city, the almost preferred burial technique was the bedchamber-shaped tombs carved into the solid rocks," he said.
Though archaeologists knew about the necropolis for more than than 150 years, they accept never washed a systematic digging of Blaundos, which is why Can'southward team began their excavation projection in 2018, with the goal of documenting the ruins and preparing conservation projects. So far, they've identified two temples, a theater, a public bathroom, a gymnasium, a basilica, urban center walls and a gate, aqueducts, a shrine dedicated to an ancient Greek or Roman hero known as a heroon, and the rock-cut chamber tombs.
"Autonomously from these, we know that there are many religious, public and ceremonious structures still nether the ground," Can said.
Tombs of the valley
In 2018, when excavating 1 of the stone-cut bedroom tombs, the archaeologists constitute human basic dating to the second to third centuries A.D. And so, in 2021, the team focused on the necropolis. "Every bit a result of this work, which has been dangerous at times, the documentation of approximately 400 rock-cut chamber tombs that can be noticed on the surface has been completed," Tin can said.
Nevertheless, the necropolis was a hotspot for grave robbers, who destroyed burials every bit they stole precious jewelry and other artifacts from the tombs over the centuries. The archaeologists nonetheless establish plenty of clues that the deceased individuals date to Roman times. For instance, pottery fragments and coins discovered in the excavated tombs indicate that they date from the 2d to 4th centuries A.D., during the Roman menstruum. "In addition, the technique of the wall paintings roofing the walls, vaults and ceilings of the tombs and the way of the vegetal and figurative scenes depicted on them show Roman characteristics," Tin can said.
The team plant different types of rock-cut bedchamber tombs, including single-roomed chambers, likewise as "complex structures formed by arranging rooms 1 after the other," Tin said. "These rooms were non created in i go. Information technology is understood from the traces on the walls that these tombs were originally designed every bit a unmarried room. However, in time, when there was no identify for burying in this single room, the room was expanded inwards and the second, third and so the fourth rooms were added."
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Some tombs still had artifacts that were likely meant to help the deceased in the afterlife, Can said. These grave goods included mirrors, diadems, rings, bracelets, hairpins, medical instruments, belts, drinking cups and oil lamps, all of which shed light on the people buried in the tombs, such equally their sex, occupation, habits and burial date.
Beautiful paintings
The walls and ceilings of these burial chambers were decorated with colorful, intricate paintings, although many accept deteriorated over the millennia, Can said. The murals in 24 of these chambers are still visible, but they're in bad shape.
"Some of these tombs were used as animal shelters by shepherds a long fourth dimension agone," Can said. "The frescoes were covered with a dense and black soot layer due to the fires that were set in those times." Simply the restoration-conservation team was able to clean some of the paintings, revealing the vibrant floral, geometric and figurative scenes painted on the walls.
"Vines, flowers of diverse colors, wreaths, garlands, geometric panels are the near frequently used motifs," Tin said. "In addition to these, mythological figures — such as Hermes (Mercury), Eros (Cupid) [and] Medusa — and animals such as birds and dogs are included in the wide panels."
There are hundreds more graves to be excavated, and "all wall paintings will be revealed with the excavations to be made in the necropolis in the coming years," he noted.
The team too plans to do DNA and chemical studies that volition reveal the deceased individuals' ancestries, as well as their sex, age and nutritional habits, Can said.
Blaundos is open up to tourists. As the excavations reveal more of the city, Tin can hopes to protect the new findings and share them with the world.
Originally published on Alive Science.
Laura is an editor at Live Scientific discipline. She edits Life's Little Mysteries and reports on general science, including archæology and animals. Her piece of work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism enquiry. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a chief's degree in science writing from NYU.
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Source: https://www.livescience.com/rock-cut-chamber-tombs-turkey
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