Archaeologists have re-examined an unusual Early Medieval grave discovered within the ancient sanctuary of Artemis at Ephesus, revealing the carefully arranged burial of two newborns—possibly twins—inside a disused Roman latrine channel.
The study, led by researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and published in the journal Childhood in the Past, sheds new light on how communities in Byzantine Ephesus treated infants who died around the time of birth.
The burial was discovered in a small stone-and-brick cist grave constructed within a disused sewer beneath the Roman Odeon, a 1st-century AD theatre used for musical, dramatic and poetic performances. The channel had originally formed part of a public latrine with around 30 seats before the building fell out of use.
Radiocarbon dating places the burial in the 8th or 9th century AD, several centuries after the Odeon had been abandoned. The findings also demonstrate that the Artemision—the sanctuary dedicated to Artemis—remained accessible during the Early Middle Ages, before flooding in the 13th and 14th centuries buried the site beneath metres of river sediment.
Although the location appears unusual for a burial, the grave itself displays all the hallmarks of a formal Christian interment. The infants were laid side by side with their heads facing west, following the burial customs of Byzantine Ephesus. The grave contained no funerary offerings, while its careful construction and the positioning of the bodies suggest deliberate and respectful burial rather than disposal.
“Very young children were often buried separately from adults because they occupied a different social status,” said Caroline Partiot, an anthropologist at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and lead author of the study. “Their graves are therefore frequently found in places that were not originally intended for burials, such as beneath house floors or inside wells.”
Partiot noted that while such locations can sometimes indicate social exclusion—particularly in cases involving unwanted pregnancies—the Ephesus burial tells a different story.
“Here, a grave with all the characteristics of a regular adult burial was created in what might otherwise be interpreted as a place of exclusion. This reflects the care shown by the relatives and suggests the children’s deaths had significance for the community,” she said.
Osteological analysis determined that both infants died at around 33 to 34 weeks of gestation, shortly before birth. Their nearly identical skeletal development and their shared burial strongly suggest they were twins.
One of the infants also exhibited a supernumerary cervical rib—a rare congenital anomaly linked to an increased risk of developmental disorders, miscarriage and stillbirth. According to the researchers, this represents only the second documented example of the condition in perinatal remains worldwide.
The analysis also found evidence that the infants had been wrapped in a textile or shroud before burial. An iron object recovered near one of the skulls may have been a fastening pin used to secure the wrapping, while traces of water infiltration indicate the grave was periodically affected by moisture during decomposition.
The researchers argue that the discovery differs markedly from other concentrations of infant remains recovered from ancient drainage systems, including examples from Ashkelon in Israel and the Agora Bone Well in Athens, which have been interpreted as evidence of infanticide or disposal. At Ephesus, the careful construction of the grave, its undisturbed condition and its location within the former sanctuary all point instead to an intentional and protected burial.
Lilli Zabrana, an archaeologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, said the discovery also provides valuable evidence for the continued use of the Artemision after antiquity.
“The radiocarbon dates confirm that the sanctuary remained accessible during the Early Middle Ages, before later flooding buried the entire sacred precinct beneath six to eight metres of sediment,” she said.
The researchers believe the burial reflects changing attitudes towards infant death during the transition from the Roman world to Byzantine Christianity. At the same time, it highlights the vulnerable position of newborns in past societies and the care some families took to ensure they received a formal burial despite dying before or shortly after birth.
Header Image Credit : OeAW-OeAI/L. Zabrana
Sources : OAW
