14 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A 1900-year-old stele was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Parion

A 1,900-year-old grave stele was found during excavations in Parion, an important ancient port city, near Kemer village in the Biga District of Çanakkale province in western Turkey.

The grave stele is known as the name of funerary or commemorative slabs in the ancient world.

Work continues in the ancient city of Parion, which sheds light on the region’s 2,700-year history, with 12-month excavations supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Professor Vedat Keleş from the Department of Archaeology of Ondokuz Mayıs University and the head of excavation at Parion said that they discovered an extremely important tomb named “Mausoleum Tomb-6” while working in the southern cemetery of Parion.

Keleş’s crew discovered a burial chamber while cleaning this region, which had been damaged during the construction of Kemer Village Primary School in 2004. They have uncovered a burial stele with fluted columns as part of their ongoing excavation.

The stele, which is one meter (3.28 feet) by one meter in size, is one of the best tomb steles discovered in the region recently, according to Keleş.

In his statement to Professor Vedat Keleş Anadolu Agency (AA), “There are two main figures on the stele. While the first one is a seated woman on the left side, the other one is a male figure lying right next to her” said.

A close-up of the 1900-year-old grave stele. (AA Photo)
A close-up of the 1900-year-old grave stele. (AA Photo)

Noting the stele also features the depictions of the servants, Keleş said: “According to this general scheme, on the left side of the stele the female owner of the tomb, her belongings and maid are depicted while on the right side of it, the male owner of the tomb, his belongings, and servants are depicted.”

The excavation head explained that there is a Latin inscription on the lower part of the tombstone. According to the analysis of the first inscription, the inscription includes a description meaning “Lucius Furnius Lesbonax, who was freed by Lucius, had this burial stele built for himself and his wife, Furnia Sympnerusa.” According to initial assessments, the tombstone is thought to be 1,900 years old.

Keleş stated that they noticed that the grave was covered with five stones while working at the site. “We determined that there were four burial phases here and that a total of 10 individuals were buried in these phases. According to the information given by anthropologists, one of them was a child and the other nine were adults. In the graves, separate burial gifts were found for each individual.”

Stressing what an important find the stele is, Keleş said: “It showed us that Parion was used extensively in the southern necropolis in the Roman period and in the previous periods. Besides, we can see that it was a rich city in the Roman period when we look at the condition of the tomb stele. The names on the stele are very important. For example, Lesbonax and his wife’s names are not Latin. These are Greek names. We can even say that the name Lesbonax was someone from the island of Lesbos. We understood that these people were enslaved when the Romans came to the city and then granted citizenship.”

The Parion Ancient City, which was founded as a port city, is renowned as one of the largest ancient cities in the region, having a diameter of roughly 4 kilometers. Some of the rows of seats belonging to the Roman Hammams and the theater have been uncovered as a consequence of the excavations in the old city, and investigations are presently underway.

Related Articles

Central Turkey’s largest Byzantine mosaic structure found

28 October 2021

28 October 2021

A 300-square-meter (3,330 square feet) ​floor mosaic belonging to the Late Roman-Early Byzantine period was discovered during excavation work in...

The Only Known Roman Brewery, Discovered in Central Italy

6 July 2024

6 July 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Macerata have discovered the only brewery from the Roman era found to date on the...

Feline and anthropomorphic 29 new geoglyphs discovered in Peru

21 December 2023

21 December 2023

In Ica, a region south of Lima on the coast of Peru, 29 geoglyphs were found by an archaeologist from...

Researchers find 3,000-year-old shark attack victim in Japan

24 June 2021

24 June 2021

In a paper published today, Oxford-led researchers reveal their discovery of a 3,000-year-old victim—attacked by a shark in the Seto...

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of what may be one of the four lost Ancient Egyptian “Sun Temples”

31 July 2022

31 July 2022

A Polish and Italian archaeological mission, while conducting an excavation in the Abusir necropolis near Saqqara in Egypt, unearthed the...

Marmore, the Highest and Oldest Artificial Waterfall in Europe, Created by the Romans

4 March 2024

4 March 2024

Approximately eight kilometers away from the town of Terni in Umbria, Italy, there is a waterfall that is one of...

The enigma behind King Tut’s’space dagger,’ according to archaeologists, has finally been solved

24 February 2022

24 February 2022

Archaeologists have finally solved the enigma of King Tutankhamun’s dagger, which was discovered 3,400 years ago. A new examination of...

Archaeologists Discover Prehistoric Irish Monuments That May Have Been ‘Routes For The Dead’

27 April 2024

27 April 2024

Traces of hundreds of monuments, which were previously unknown, have been identified in an archaeological survey in Ireland. Five of...

Archaeologists Uncover 1,100-Year-Old Viking Boat Grave of Woman and Her Dog on Senja Island, Norway

6 June 2025

6 June 2025

In a remarkable archaeological discovery on Norway’s remote Senja Island, experts have unearthed a remarkably well-preserved 1,100-year-old Viking boat grave...

Impressive proof of technology transfer in Antiquity times “2700 year- old a Leather Armor”

20 July 2022

20 July 2022

Design and construction details of the unique leather-scaled armor found in a horse rider’s tomb in northwest China indicate that...

A 3,300-year-old tablet found at Büklükale from Hittite Empire describes catastrophic invasion of four cities

11 March 2024

11 March 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed a 3,300-year-old clay tablet depicting a catastrophic foreign invasion of the Hittite Empire in Büklükale, about 100...

Neolithic Age Adults and Children Buried Under Family Homes were not Relative

3 May 2021

3 May 2021

An international team of scientists found that Children and adults buried next to each other in one of the oldest...

In Peru, Archaeologists Discovered an Ancient Dance Floor that can Imitate Rumbling of Thunder

21 July 2023

21 July 2023

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient “sounding” dance floor in Peru that was designed to create a drum-like sound when stepped...

Researchers able to reconstruct the development of Barbegal’s former watermills over time with the help of carbonate deposits

7 July 2024

7 July 2024

Archaeologists are faced with a difficult task: how can information be obtained about buildings or facilities of which – if...

Magnificent Discovery: A Major Tomb Filled with Gold and Ceramic Artifacts was Discovered in Panama

3 March 2024

3 March 2024

In an archaeological find in the El Caño Archaeological Park, located in the district of Natá, province of Coclé, in...