18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A 2,000-year-old Roman sewage system has been discovered in western Turkey

The archaeological excavations carried out in the ancient city of Tripolis in the western province of Denizli’s Buldan district have unearthed the Roman-era sewage system.

The Roman-era sewage system, 160 centimeters (5.2 feet) in height and 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) wide.

The excavations have been carried out throughout the year in the ancient city under the direction of Bahadır Duman, associate profession at the Pamukkale University’s Archaeology Department.

Duman told the state-run Anadolu Agency that they had been working in three areas. “While working in the sanctuary, which we can call the heart of the city, we found various finds dating back to the Hellenistic era. A sewer system was detected right under the 1-kilometer-long Colonnaded Street, which is one of the main roads of the city. This year, we cleaned a part of it during the excavations. The gigantic sewer has dimensions that a person can easily enter and walk through,” he said.

Duman stated that all the wastewater of the city was collected in this main sewer system and transferred to Buldan Stream and from there to the Büyük Menderes River at that time.

Tripolis Ancient City
Tripolis Ancient City

Noting that the sewage system reveals the Roman architecture and engineering, Duman said: “The difference of the system in Tripolis from the others is that it is still intact. The main sewer system is one of the rare examples, which makes it important. The city has two 9-meter-wide streets that we have found so far. We believe that this system was made to provide a clean environment. We are planning to open the sewerage systems under all the main streets within five years.”

Related Articles

An exciting discovery in Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites

11 September 2022

11 September 2022

It is aimed to reach new information about the traditions of the Hittite civilization with 249 new hieroglyphs discovered in...

Archaeologists say they have found the lost city of Natounia, belonging to the Parthian Empire

20 July 2022

20 July 2022

Researchers suggest they may have identified the lost Parthian city of Natounia in the Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. Although...

Horse cemetery in Westminster revealed as likely resting place for elite imported animals

25 March 2024

25 March 2024

Archaeological analysis of a medieval horse cemetery discovered in London nearly 30 years ago has revealed the international scale of...

The excavation, which started in a cave in Turkey’s Mardin, turned into a huge underground city

19 April 2022

19 April 2022

In an underground city known used as a settlement in the early Christian era, in the Midyat district of Mardin,...

Madagascar’s Enigmatic Rock-Cut Architecture may have been of Zoroastrian origin

13 September 2024

13 September 2024

An international team of researchers found an enigmatic rock-cut architecture at Teniky, a site in the remote Isalo Massif in...

Minoan civilization may have used celestial navigation techniques

3 March 2023

3 March 2023

According to a study done by an American researcher at the University of Wales, ancient civilizations may have used celestial...

Excavations in Haldensleben, Germany Reveal A Lost Settlement

9 November 2024

9 November 2024

Excavations at Haldensleben in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt provide important information about a lost settlement. Since May 2024, the...

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed a bone workshop and an oil lamp shop in an Aizanoi ancient city in the Çavdarhisar district...

New Study: Middle Paleolithic Human Diet was More Diverse than Previously Thought

30 November 2023

30 November 2023

In a newly published study, archaeologists from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen...

Archaeologists Discover 8600-year-old Bread at Çatalhöyük May be the Oldest Bread in the World

5 March 2024

5 March 2024

Archaeologists have discovered about 8,600-year-old bread at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in central Turkey. Çatalhöyük is noteworthy because it is...

Turkey’s Must-See Ancient Cities

23 March 2021

23 March 2021

From the classical cities scattered on the coast to the earliest archaeological sites that can be traced back to human...

Hagia Sophia May Collapse: Experts Sound Alarm Over 1,500-Year-Old World Heritage Monument

30 June 2025

30 June 2025

Beneath the grandeur of Hagia Sophia’s golden domes and sacred mosaics lies a ticking time bomb. With over 1,500 years...

Evidence of textile manufacture dating back millennia was found in an area famous for the Witney Blanket

12 June 2023

12 June 2023

Archaeological excavations at the site of Oxfordshire County Council’s project to build the A40 Science Transit Park and Ride at...

5,700-Year-old Ancient “Chewing Gum” Gives Information About People and Bacteria of the Past

4 April 2021

4 April 2021

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have successfully extracted the complete human genome from “chewing gum” thousands of years ago....

Newly discovered inscribed brick may reveal Elamite water supply system in Western Iran

15 January 2024

15 January 2024

Archaeologists discovered a brick inscribed with Akkadian script, marking the Elamite water supply system, alongside some intricately patterned bricks in...