A rare Roman-era burial inside a giant ceramic storage jar has been uncovered at the ancient city of Hadrianopolis in northern Türkiye, marking the first pithos tomb ever found in the inland western Black Sea region.
Archaeologists made the discovery during ongoing excavations at the site near present-day Eskipazar in Karabük Province. While pithoi—large clay jars used to store and transport grain, olives, wine and other goods—were a common feature of daily life in antiquity, they were sometimes repurposed as burial containers for the dead.
The newly discovered tomb contained human skeletal remains along with a collection of grave goods, including seven pottery vessels, an oil lamp, a knife, two bone hairpins and a bronze coin. The coin, struck during the reign of Roman Emperor Probus (AD 276–282), dates the burial to the late third century.
The bone hairpins suggest the deceased may have been a woman, although archaeologists say further study of the remains will be needed to determine the individual’s sex and age.
Professor Ersin Çelikbaş, director of the Hadrianopolis excavations, described the discovery as a significant milestone for the region’s archaeology.
“This is the first documented pithos burial discovered at Hadrianopolis and in the inland western Black Sea region,” he said. “It provides valuable new evidence for understanding local burial customs during the Roman period.”
Among the objects recovered were examples of Pontic Sigillata, a nicely red-slipped tableware used around the Black Sea during the Roman Empire. Similar pottery has been found all over Hadrianopolis too, a sign of how well the city’s commercial ties were in place with the neighbouring areas.
Hadrianopolis has been inhabited for over three millennia. It was founded by the Hittites around 1300 BC and became a center under Roman rule and was called Hadrian in the second century AD. On an important trade route connecting the Black Sea coast to central Anatolia and the Aegean, the city flourished.
The recently discovered burial not only sheds light on Roman funerary practices in northern Anatolia but also indicates the significance of Hadrianopolis in terms of archaeology and its long, diverse history, where ongoing excavations are still ongoing.
Header Image Credit : AA
Source : Turkiye Today
