New finds reveal ancient Hierapolis in SW Turkey predates Hellenistic period

The latest excavations in ancient Hierapolis, in the southwestern province of Denizli unearthed a new necropolis, which takes the city's known history back around 500 years.

Credit: AA

Dubbed as “Holy City” in the archaeological literature due to hosting a number of temples and religious structures, the ancient city of Hierapolis was believed to have been founded by Eumenes II, one of Pergamon kings, at the beginning of the 2nd century BC.

Grazia Semeraro, a classical archaeology professor at Italy’s Salento University, said the finding was “a new a chapter in the history of Hierapolis”.

Credit: AA

“This new excavation demonstrates that the settlement here started some centuries before the foundation in the Hellenistic period,” Semeraro said.

“This new excavation is a very important one because it will permit us to better know the history of the region - that is, the people living here before [[it's tradionial foundation date]],” she added.

Credit: AA

“In here, we found a necropolis with a very particular ritual of cremation. We are now in the area of the ancient necropolis of the iron-age,” she added.

“This is a new excavation area and it is also a new chapter in the history of Hierapolis,” she added. “We are now excavating the region settlement that is that part of the town inhabited by the ancient people living here before the Greeks and before the Romans.”

“This year we continue the excavation carried out by the museum of Hierapolis two years ago,” she said, adding the research was ongoing by expanding the excavation.

Source: Anadolu Agency [November 17, 2018]

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