Museum asked to bury old skeleton

TOKAT - Anatolia News Agency

Officials of the Tokat Museum say that the visitors, who learn the skeleton on display is a 2,000 year-old-real human skeleton, often tell them to bury it. DHA Photo

A 2,000-year-old human skeleton resting in a tomb at the Tokat Museum in the central Anatolian province of Tokat is one of the museum’s more popular items, but visitors who learn it is a real human skeleton often tell officials to bury it.

The Tokat Museum, previously located in the historic Gökmedrese, moved to the Arastalı Bedesten in December last year. It displays artworks from the Maşat tumulus and Hanözü excavations, Christian artifacts as well as coins and other pieces.

The 2,000-year-old human skeleton, which dates back to the Roman period, was found in 1927 by a citizen in the Artova district.

The museum’s director Halis Şahin said those tombs could be seen between 330 A.D. and the late Roman period especially in Tokat, Amasya and Çorum provinces. “This tomb was made from earthenware. There is a cross in the middle of it. The body was put through a big hole and the arms and legs were placed through a small hole,” he said. Şahin said museum visitors often tell museum officials to bury the skeleton and let it rest peacefully.