Mystery of mass graves in ancient Roman village under examination

ISPARTA - Doğan News Agency

The human skeletons were discovered in a shaft in the Roman village.

Mass graves that have been discovered at three different points of the ancient city of Pisidia Antiocheia have posed a mystery for experts, who are now examining the 24 skeletons.

The site, located in the southern province of Isparta’s Yalvaç district, is considered one of the birthplaces of Christianity. Excavations there last year revealed mass graves in two shafts of a Roman villa that are thought to have been used to keep food.

This year another mass grave was found at the site and the bones of 24 people are now being examined by academics from Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, who have suggested that they died of an epidemic between the sixth and ninth century.

The head of the excavations, Professor Mehmet Özhanlı said they could not see the mark of any sharp objects on the bodies.

“Probably these people died of an epidemic and the bodies were randomly thrown into cooling shafts and covered with earth and stones. This year we found three more shafts and there was a mass grave in one of them too. We think this was a family of five people, including a child of up to three years old,” Özhanlı said.