Church floor found in city of gladiators in western Turkey

MUĞLA – Anadolu Agency

A marble church floor has been unearthed during archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Stratonikeia, known as the city of gladiators in the western Turkish province of Muğla’s Yatağan district. 

Head of the excavations, Professor Bilal Söğüt, said they had discovered new finds at the 3,000-year-old ancient city and structures from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Anatolian Beylics, Ottoman and the Republic periods, which had survived as a whole. 

Söğüt said they had so far unearthed a Roman bath, a temple, a Seljuk mosque, a Turkish house and similar structures in the ancient city. 

He said excavation works had been mostly carried out in the field known as the Western Street at the site.
“We previously found a grave there, as this place was a church in the past. Now we are uncovering the field of both the church and the grave. We have unearthed the ground floor of the church,” Söğüt added. 

“This field was abandoned in the 4th century after an earthquake. Later on another church was established there. Now we know that the church served until the first half of the 7th century, after which this field was used as a graveyard,” he also said.

“We have uncovered an original floor here. Different geometrical shapes were brought together in the floor, and this is the first time we have found such a floor in the ancient city,” Söğüt added. 

He said they would unearth the entire church structure this year before starting conservation work.