Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) made a sensational discovery this year during the excavations at Ephesus in Turkey. They discovered an exceptionally well-preserved early Byzantine business and dining space that had apparently been suddenly destroyed in AD 614/615. Head of the excavation Sabine Ladstätter considers the find the most important discovery in the ancient metropolis since the discovery of the famous hill houses there.
The newly discovered neighborhood is located on Domitian Square, a prominent square directly adjacent to the political center, the Upper Agora, of the Roman city. The excavations carried out this year are part of a major research project devoted to the changes in Ephesus between the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity.
The upper edges of the wall were located just below the top layer of humus, the researchers then dug up filling material meters high and eventually arrived at a fire layer about half a meter thick. Sealed by this, a unique snapshot of life at the time was preserved at a depth of about 3.5 meters.
Thousands of vessels with remains found
On an area of approximately 170 square meters, a small-scale development of several commercial buildings was uncovered, which was in full bloom in the year 614/15. The researchers found thousands of barrels, including whole bowls of seafood remnants such as cockles or oysters, amphoras filled with salted mackerel, peach, almond and olive kernels, charred pulses, several cash registers with more than 700 copper coins and four matching gold coins and gold jewellery.
Business cash registers with gold coins
Based on the finds, it was also possible to reconstruct the earlier use of the rooms. So it is a cooking shop, a storage room, a tavern, a workshop with an adjoining sales room and a shop for lamps and Christian pilgrim souvenirs. Especially four gold coins (solidi) that belong together and several cash registers with more than 700 copper coins are particularly spectacular.
“Right next to the front door of this shop, there must have been a large basket containing some 600 small pilgrim bottles sold to Christian pilgrims,” Ladstätter compares the find to today’s souvenir shops in pilgrimage sites.
Sassanid robbery?
But the lively business and craft industry came to an abrupt end in the year 614/15 under the half-meter thick layer of fire, according to coin dating. Since there is no indication of an earthquake, such as shifted walls or vaulted floors, the scientists assume a military conflict. Numerous arrows and spearheads found also testify to this. The reasons for this were not known until now. Based on the new finds, “this turning point in the history of the city of Ephesus will probably have to be associated with the Sassanid Wars”.
No human remains were found during the excavations. “The attack may have taken place at night,” Ladstätter suspects. But no one came back to save the valuables in the stores. This could be a reference to the warfare of the Sasanians, known only from literary traditions, which killed many people, but also enslaved and kidnapped many.
Austrians have been digging in Ephesus since 1895
Researchers from the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI) of the OeAW have been excavating at Ephesus near Selcuk in western Turkey since 1895. With the sanctuary of Artemis, the city possessed one of the seven wonders of the world. It first flourished under the Greeks, the Romans turned it into a metropolis and for Christians it was the destination of the first pilgrimages.
Source: Krone
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