The veil of mystery is lifting: Did an epidemic really occur?

Excavations in the Ancient City of Alexandria Troas, located in the Dalyan village of Çanakkale's Ezine district, began on July 18. The excavation work has been carried out since 2011 by a team led by Prof. Dr. Erhan Öztepe, a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at Ankara University.

The excavation work at the Ancient City of Alexandria Troas, which is supported by the Turkish Historical Society, Ankara University, İÇDAŞ A.Ş., and the Çanakkale Governorship, in addition to the permission and financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, continued this year in the forum center, which is the central location of the city, and at various points of the forum center.

Within the framework of the ongoing excavation work in and around the forum area, 4 graves have been unearthed by the excavation team over the course of 13 years. Examinations conducted by anthropologists on the skeletons revealed that the individuals suffered from diseases caused by a monotonous diet and malnutrition based on grains and cereals.

Whether an epidemic occurred in the 2,400-year-old Ancient City of Alexandria Troas will be revealed after anthropologists examine the skeletons found within the forum area where excavations are ongoing.

DID AN EPIDEMIC OCCUR?

Ankara University Archaeology Department faculty member and Head of Excavations Prof. Dr. Erhan Öztepe stated that the skeletons are dated to "approximately the 10th or 11th century, which we call the Middle Byzantine period. That is, about 900 to 1000 years ago. In this process, which we call the Byzantine period, when one thinks of Byzantium, Istanbul, Constantinople comes to mind. You cannot find the splendor of the magnificent capital of Byzantium, an imperial center, throughout the general landscape of Anatolia. Those magnificent structures and that lifestyle are not here. We are encountering a period that we can call rural Byzantine architecture or a rural Byzantine period.

Resources are limited; the studies conducted by our anthropologist colleagues on the skeletons we found in these graves revealed that they died due to malnutrition and diseases generally caused by a monotonous diet. They were mostly able to feed on a few types of grains and cereals because production was very low. There are diseases and epidemics resulting from this, and of course, epidemics have been one of the factors that have greatly affected certain societies since the very early stages of the ancient period," he said.

'WE HAVE NOT YET FOUND A LARGE CEMETERY'

Addressing the question of whether an epidemic occurred in the Ancient City of Alexandria Troas, Head of Excavations Prof. Dr. Erhan Öztepe said, "To give a clear answer to the question of whether an epidemic occurred here or not, we need to unearth a very large number of skeletons. We have not yet found a large cemetery. Why are these skeletons here? This area, the forum, was an important administrative and religious center for Rome, I am speaking for the city.

After this area lost its importance, after Christianity began to spread in the city, and 500-600 years passed, there were earthquakes in the 5th century. They undoubtedly affected the ancient city greatly. The city lost its economy and architecture. As this area lost its importance during this process, they began to use it as a cemetery.

We have unearthed 4 graves in this forum area you see over 13 years. This means it had become an area that those living at that time did not consider very important. They settled on one side. You look and see traces of settlement on the Odeon. The layer on top of all the structures in this area is generally the Middle Byzantine period layer, and they used it like a cemetery. We can say this based on that," he said.