ARKEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT

Nicolay Nr 114 2011

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ARKEOLOGISK TIDSSKRIFT

innhold

Nr 114 2011

Forsidebilde: Fritidsykkerne Erik Erland

Holmen og yvind Arnesen oppdager
en last med kvernsteiner
delvis skjult av sand, stein og tare i sjen
utenfor Brekkest ved Lillesand i 2009
(09260085) (foto: Pl Nymoen)

Nicolay Nr 114 2011

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Axel Mjrum

Knut Fossdal Eskeland og Jo-Simon Frshaug Stokke

En trinnks med merker av historien

Noen detaljer om et funn fra
Stokke i Vestfold.

The Hellenic-Norwegian Excavations at

Tegea 2010: en kort oppdatering.

43

5
Bernt-Johnny Bertheussen

Fra felt i Finnmark Nyregistrering av

chertbrudd i Melsvik, Alta kommune.

Camilla Wenn

A Necropolis through the Centuries

Roman and Byzantine Tombs in the
East Necropolis of Hierapolis, Turkey.

13

Jakob Johansson

Utgrvning inom bostadshus i

Them Nedre 42/1 , Tnsberg.

Inger Eggen, Stine Melvold, Per Persson

og Gaute Reitan

I Egil Mikkelsens fotspor steinalderunderskelser langs en ny jernbane.

57

Pl Nymoen

21

Johan E. Arntzen

En palisadehaug fra yngre jernalder

i Nord-Norge?

49

Kun for den smarte skippers regning?

Skipsvrak med omsettelig ballast:
p sporet av kvernstein, kleber og
brynehandelen fra Norge ca 800 1800

65

33
Heidi Berg og Jan Kristian Hellan

Felt, forskning og formidling - et intervju

med Unn Pedersen
77

Utgitt av arkeologistudenter ved IAKH,

Universitetet i Oslo.

Copyright: Nicolay
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A Necropolis through the

Centuries Roman and
Byzantine Tombs in the
East Necropolis of
Hierapolis, Turkey
Camilla Wenn (cand. philol., UiO)

As a result of the 2008 and 2009 excavation campaigns, the Hierapolis project could last year
present rather unexpected Byzantine contexts in what was to all other purposes a Roman
tomb. One year, and one more excavation campaign has passed, and we now have a wider
grasp of the Byzantine contexts, and also know a little more about the Roman inhabitants
of Hierapolis. Previous presentations in Nicolay have focused on the challenges and methods of
excavating one tomb in particular, tomb 42 (C92). However, this tomb is not our only
research object, and thus we hope to still be able to interest the readers with the results from
other investigations in the 2009 and 2010 campaigns, as well as the progress in tomb 42.

with spectacular travertine formations (see e.g.

Arthur 2006; DAndria 2003; DAndria et al.
2008). A group of Italian universities have since
1957 conducted excavations in the ancient
town, and from 2007 the University of Oslo
has been part of the project, investigating the
East Necropolis.

Hierapolis and the excavation project have

been thoroughly presented earlier (see e.g.
Ahrens et al. 2008; Bortheim & Sund 2008,
2009; Wenn et al. 2010), suffice it here to sum
up briefly. Hierapolis was a town situated in
ancient Frygia, populated at least from the 3rd
century BC until the 13th century AD. It was
famous in Antiquity for its pagan Apollo oracle,
reknowned in the Byzantine period for the
Christian martyrion of Phillip, and well-known
then as now for the natural springs that have
covered the hillside below the ancient town

The 2010 campaign an overview

In 2010 the Norwegian team consisted of field
director Sven Ahrens (post.doc. IAKH), assistant field director Camilla Cecilie Wenn

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Nr 114 2-2011

(C92a), 51 (C91) and sarcophagi 62, 63 and

64 (on the numbering of tombs, see Wenn et
al. 2010:22), both inside and outside the tombs
(fig. 1). In addition, the GIS survey of the
necropolis was completed, documenting a total
of 572 tombs, as well as other activities such as
quarrying, later roads, Ottoman dwellings, fences and irrigation systems (Ahrens 2010).

(cand.philol.), field assistants Eva Marie Sund

(MA) and Kjetil Bortheim (MA-student
IAKH), GIS surveyor David Hill (PhD-student KHM), GIS assistant Linn Trude Lieng
(MA-student, IAKH), osteo-archaeologist
Helene Russ (MA), archaeologist and draughtsman Bjrn-Hkon Eketuft Rygh (cand.philol.),
conservationist Anne Hbu (KHM) and DNA
biologist Vidar Kaspersen (PhD-student,
Institute of Biology). In addition we had much
help from our six Turkish workers, Halil
Ibrahim Kacer, Akin Karademir, Hseyin
Tahta, Mehmet Seriyildiz, Gani Bozkurt and
Ibrahim Kacer. The 2010 campaign was funded by Smforskmidler/University of Oslo,
H.R. Astrup and Stiftelsen Thomas Fearnley,
Heddy og Nils Astrup.

Tomb 42
In tomb 42, the aisle between the benches was
emptied out, and it was finally possible to assess
a certain chronology of the tomb use. The
Byzantine fill, which had been excavated
during the previous campaigns (see Wenn et al.
2010), covered several mixed contexts with
Byzantine as well as Roman finds. The bones in
these contexts were less numerous and more
deteriorated than in the Byzantine fill. In the
inner corner by the benches one context stood
out, as it contained many bones, highly frag-

As in 2009, several areas were investigated

simultaneously, and the excavations continued
in the tomb complex of house tombs 42, 65

Figure 1: Map of the excavation area (drawing: Sven Ahrens, IAKH).

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Nr 114 2-2011

Figure 2: Various finds from the 2011 campaign (from top left to bottom right, tomb no. in parenthesis): Three amber
beads (42); fragment of ivory bracelet (42); bone stilus (42); lamp fragment (42); Gloria Exercitus coin (521);
bronze buckle (512); terracotta figurine (42) (photos: The excavation project, UiO).

Though many of the finds were from the

Roman Imperial period, they were found in
mixed contexts, and thus could not be tied to
specific burials.

mented and very soft and porous, and no

Medieval finds. The preliminary interpretation
is that it represents finds from the original use
of the tomb, which were swept from the benches some time after deposition and decomposition. Under this context and covering the entire aisle was a thin, virtually empty context of
sand and gravel, presumably the original floor
level of the tomb. Below there was partially cut
bedrock, and partially a near-conglomerated fill
consisting of chipped limestone.

The sarcophagi
Two sarcophagi were emptied, tombs 62 and
63, their inscriptions identifying them as the
tombs of Aristes and Apollonios, the daughter
and son of Eutyches who commissioned tomb
42. Tomb 62 still had the lid on, though the
corner of the lid and the sarcophagus had been
chopped off at some point. The tomb had clearly been looted, but there was still a slight
hope of finding the contents at least partially in
situ. With the help of a lift the lid was removed,
and the excavations could start (fig. 3). The
result, however, was disappointing, as there was
little left apart from a few fragments of bone,
pottery and glass. The most notable finds were
several large iron nails, mostly from a limited
area in the centre of the sarcophagus.

Apart from bones, tomb 42 also provided several interesting finds in the 2010 campaign,
both Roman and Byzantine (fig. 2). One bronze coin was found in the Roman context described above, though unfortunately not
datable. Several lamp fragments and one complete lamp turned up, two terracotta figurines,
and many personal effects, such as a glass sigil,
glass and amber beads, part of an ivory bracelet
and fragments of pointed bone pins (stili or aci;
writing utensils, hairpins, ornaments etc.). A
Medieval bronze cross was also found, complementing the two found in 2008 and 2009.

Tomb 63 was nearly full of soil when excavation started in 2009. The lid had at some point

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Nr 114 2-2011

Figure 3: The lid of sarcophagus 62 removed by lift (photo: The excavation project, UiO).

tion. At the very bottom four craniums were

more or less well preserved. The osteological
analysis has not yet been completed, but so far
five individuals have been identified, including
one child. The sarcophagus contained a fair
amount of pottery and glass sherds, as well as
lamp fragments datable to the 5th century AD,
a silver ring, and a coin from the reign of
Justinus II (565-578 AD) (Ahrens 2010). The
dated finds indicate activity in the 5th-6th centuries, but it is at present not possible to establish whether the bones are from the original
tomb use, probably in the 2nd century AD, or

been slid off the sarcophagus, and lay partially

supported on the sarcophagus, partially on the
ground (fig. 4). The growth of lichen and other
vegetation suggested that the lid had not been
in place for a very long time. The 2009 excavation revealed fragmented bones, pottery and
glass, but seemingly in a mixed fill. Further
investigations confirmed this theory; whereas
the upper part may have accumulated gradually, the lower part was clearly disturbed. The fill
along the west side of the sarcophagus contained much fragmented bone, and it seemed as if
the bones had been cleared away in that direc-

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Figure 4: Excavation in course: Camilla C. Wenn working in sarcophagus 63 at left, and Kjetil Bortheim excavating
around the mortar structure back right (photo: Bjrn-Hkon Eketuft Rygh).

Tomb 512 was also constructed from two layers of tiles and oriented N-S, but was in a better state of preservation (fig. 5). The bones were
badly deteriorated, but parts of both femurs
and the right side of the pelvic girdle remained,
and it was possible to establish that the head
had been oriented to the south. By what must
be assumed to be the left abdomen, two buckles
were found. The ring-shaped bronze buckle can
be dated to the Early Byzantine period (fig. 2).
The iron buckle was badly corroded, but probably had an oval shape, and preserved traces of
gilding. In addition several iron nails were
found.

if the tomb was reused later. Neither can it be

determined whether the later finds belong to
reuse burials, or if they have ended up in the
tomb by coincidence.

Artificial terraces and tile tombs

The excavation campaigns have also seen a lot
of activity outside the tombs, as illustrated on
the map (fig. 1). East of tomb 42 the fill was
more than 2 m thick, nearly covering house
tomb 51. The arrival of geologist Stefano
Marabini gave a new understanding to the area,
as he assessed the fill to be a man-made terrace.
While removing part of this fill around tomb
51, four tile-built tombs appeared, in various
degrees of preservation. Tomb 481, oriented
roughly N-S, consisted of two layers of tiles,
but was poorly preserved with only some few
bone fragments.

Tomb 521 was oriented approximately E-W,

and well constructed, with four tiles in the bottom, sides made from alternating courses of
brick fragments and stones, and three layers of

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Nr 114 2-2011

term use of the area. The activity in the area

may in fact predate the house tombs, which are
probably from the 2nd century AD. The unguentarium found in 2009 (see Wenn et al.
2010:22) next to the lid has been dated to ca.
50 BC-AD 50 (Ahrens 2010), and may belong
to a grave prior to the house tombs and sarcophagi. The cuts in the bedrock between tomb
187 and the complex around tomb 42 reveal
more of the large scale planning of tombs in the
Roman necropolis. The same was also apparent
inside tomb 42, where the bedrock had been
cut to even out the ground for the tomb house.
In the case of crevices in the bedrock, these
were filled with roughly chopped limestone,
and covered with a thin layer of sand and fine
gravel. A rich variety of items from the Roman
period were found inside tomb 42 and between
tombs 65 and 63. These give some insight into
the burial customs and rites in the first use phases of the tomb, though the original setting
cannot be reconstructed. It is evident that the
people originally buried in the tombs were
equipped both with personal objects and with
vessels more probably intended for grave rites.

tiles on top (fig. 6). Little was preserved inside

the tomb, only some few bone fragments, and
large iron nails. Two Gloria Exercitus coins
from c. AD 330-340 (fig. 2) were found in the
stone setting around the third top tile layer
(Ahrens 2010). Tomb 550 was not excavated.
West of the tomb complex a mortar structure
and an overturned sarcophagus lid had been
partially uncovered already in 2009, and the
investigations were continued in 2010. The
irregular mortar structure was situated in the
sloping hillside, consisting of light mortar with
stones of various sizes incorporated. In places
the bedrock was visible, and was clearly cut to
form a terrace on the axis of the foundation and
back wall of tomb 187 (C84). It is probable
that the terrain had been dressed to prepare for
the construction of more house tombs. The
upper part of the mortar structure merged into
another terrace, cut into the bedrock. A terracotta pipe crossed the upper terrace and led
water to or across the mortar structure. Two
further fragments were found from the overturned sarcophagus lid, but the fragmented pottery and bone around them did not seem to be in
a tomb context (Ahrens 2010). One last context should be mentioned; while levelling the
ground west of sarcophagus 63, and in front of
tomb 65/C92a, a large heap of pottery unguentaria and other vases, as well as some glass
vessels were found, with preliminary dates to
the Imperial period. It is plausible that this is a
dump of grave goods taken from one of the
nearby tombs, whereof tomb 65 is a likely candidate.

One burial feature found in several tombs (at

least in tombs 62, 512 and 521, and to some
extent also in tomb 42) is large iron nails. Their
position in the corners of the undisturbed tile
tombs strongly suggests that they were part of a
wooden box or coffin in which the body was
placed. This may also have been the case for
sarcophagus 62 and for one or more burials in
tomb 42. An interesting aspect here is the time
frame. Sarcophagus 62 was looted at some
point after the original burial, but contrary to
sarcophagus 63 it does not seem to have been
reused. The nails in tomb 62 were thus probably from the original burial in the late 2nd century AD. The tile tombs are at least two centuries later, and the tomb type is significantly

A preliminary outline of the use

of the necropolis
The 2009 and 2010 excavation campaigns have
given new aspects to the supposed Roman
necropolis, and it is possible to outline a long

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Nr 114 2-2011

Figure 5: The tile layers in tomb 512, with the finds drawn in (drawing: Sven Ahrens, IAKH).

The stratigraphy in the aisle of tomb 42 indicated that Roman burials were at some point
cleared away, and swept off the benches. After
this there seems to have been a long period of
low activity, with occasional deposition and

different. It thus seems to have been common

with nailed wooden structures for burials for
several centuries. They may have come in different forms, either as coffins, or as walls and
covers separating the bodies in the tombs.

Figure 6: The tile layers in tomb 521 (from left to right; the first three taken towards E, the last towards W):
Top layers 1 and 2; top layer 2; top layer 3; bottom layer and side walls (photos: The excavation project, UiO).

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Nr 114 2-2011

through and internally displaced, either from

looting or reuse. The Byzantine lamp fragments
and coins are not likely to be the result of looting, and may indicate reuse as a tomb, but it is
also possible that the tomb remained open
from this time, and that it was used as a rubbish
dump, thus explaining the finds.

redeposition of material, before the final massive dump of bones from Byzantine burials in the
late 13th century. The reuse of tomb 42 was
however only one aspect of the area in Late
Antiquity and the Byzantine period. Already in
the 4th or 5th century the area between the
tomb complex and the martyrion was terraced,
partly by filling large amounts of soil among
the previous tombs. This work was probably
contemporary with the terracing works made
for the martyrion church about 70 m further
east (Ahrens 2010), and thus shows a largescale planning of the area in that period, linking the two areas. Judging from the finds in
the tile tombs 512 and 521 on the western edge
of these terraces, these tombs belong to the
same period. Consequently, the cemetery pertaining to the martyrion church stretched out
widely already at this early stage.

We are still far from fully understanding the

East Necropolis of Hierapolis, but the past
excavation campaigns have given us much data
with which we have been able to outline a little more detailed the beginning of the Roman
necropolis as well as its Byzantine reuse, and
the relationship to the martyrion. The 2011
campaign is in planning, and with it we hope
for further insights, which in combination with
the Thanatos: Dead bodies, live data (2010)
research project with workshops and a planned
2013 conference can be expected to further the
research both of Roman necropoleis as well as
the Early Byzantine period in the area.

Within two centuries after this, sarcophagus 63

was reopened. The original contents were either
partially removed, or at least rummaged

L I T T E R AT U R E
Ahrens, S.
2010 Hierapolis 2010. Report on the
excavations by the Institute of Archaeology,
conservation, and history, University of Oslo
(Aug. 17 Sept. 10). Digital report
(http://www.hf.uio.no/iakh/english/research/
projects/hierapolis/reports/hierapolisreport2010.pdf, accessed 26.2.2011).
Ahrens, S., J. R. Brandt &
H. Ingvaldsen
2008 Utgravninger i Tyrkia 2002-2007.
Nicolay Arkeologisk Tidsskrift 105:57-65.
Arthur, Paul
2006 Byzantine and Turkish Hierapolis
(Pamukkale): An archaeological guide.
Ege Yayinlari, Istanbul.

Bortheim, K. & E. M. Sund

2008 Hierapolis 2008. Inntrykk fr norske
utgravingar i italiensk regi p tyrkisk jord.
Klassisk forum 2008 (2):96-103.
2009 Norske utgravninger i Hierapolis,
Tyrkia 2008. Nicolay Arkeologisk Tidsskrift
108:27-31.
DAndria, F.
2003 Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale): An
archaeological guide. Ege Yayinlari, Istanbul.
DAndria, F., G. Scardozzi &
A. Span (eds.)
2008 Hierapolis di Frigia, II: Atlante di
Hierapolis di Frigia. Ege Yayinlari, Istanbul.
Thanatos: Dead bodies live data. A study of
funerary material from the Hellenistic-RomanByzantine town Hierapolis in Phrygia, Turkey

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2010 Digital project description

(http://www.hf.uio.no/iakh/english/research/
projects/hierapolis/pictures/Thanatosabridged
version100310.pdf, accessed 28.02.2010).
Wenn, C. C., E. M. Sund and
K. Bortheim
2010 Excavating a reused tomb challenges
and methods. Tomb 42, East Necropolis of
Hierapolis, Turkey. Nicolay Arkeologisk
Tidsskrift 111:19-26.