5 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A First in Türkiye: ‘Pilgrim Dimitrakis’ Inscribed Skull Found in Sinop

A male skull with the Greek inscription “Pilgrim Dimitrakis” was found during archaeological excavations at Balatlar Church in Sinop, on the Black Sea coast of Türkiye.

Balatlar Church or Sinope Koimesis Church, whose identity and usage phases can be determined with the excavations that started in 2010, is the only structure in Sinop City history whose purpose of use is known. During the excavations conducted under the direction of Professor Gülgün Köroğlu, the most comprehensive studies of the Byzantine period were carried out in Sinop.

It has been determined through excavations that the building known as Balatlar Church was a Roman Empire bath constructed in the second century. As a consequence of the studies, it was established that the bath complex comprising the Palaestra, Frigidarium, Tepidarium, Caldarium, and Laconicum venues started to be used as a church in the late 4th or early 5th century. It is noteworthy that the structure was converted into a church in an early period.

The skull found in the ossuary section of the church has no other example in Turkey.

In the examination conducted under the chairmanship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Tolga Çırak, Head of the Anthropology Department of Hitit University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, it was determined that the skull belonged to an Orthodox cleric who went to Jerusalem to make a pilgrimage.

The inscribed skull has an important place for the world of science as one of the most interesting applications as well as being one of the latest examples of the skull cult dating back thousands of years in Anatolia. The inscribed skull reveals that the cultures in Anatolia did not disappear even after thousands of years and continued in different communities by changing their forms.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Tolga Çırak said that there is no other example of an inscribed skull in Turkey.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Tolga Çırak said, “The historical building is not known as a bath among the people, but rather as a church. The building community was used as a service area during the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods. Balatlar Church turned into a cemetery area in the late Ottoman period from the 17th century to the 20th century. Especially in the garden and interior of the church, burials were made intensively. The church became the cemetery of the Orthodox.”

Photo: İHA

Çırak pointed out that no example of an inscribed skull was found in any excavation in Anatolia and said, “The tradition of writing on the skull was not found in Anatolia. No such example was found in any excavation. However, we knew that there were similar examples in Greece and Egypt, but it is an important finding for us because it is the first in Anatolia. The ritual of writing on the skull is one of the important Orthodox burial traditions. According to this tradition, the skull of the deceased is removed from the place where it was found, and then the name of the person is written on the skull with a hard object. Here you can see that the name is neatly written on the skull. After the writing process, the skull was placed on the shelf in the relevant section of the church to be exhibited. There are examples of this in Greece and Egypt.”

Çırak noted that rituals with skulls were seen until the Neolithic period and said, “The custom of keeping and honoring the skull separately from the rest of the skeleton seems to have persisted in various forms throughout prehistoric times, having probably started as early as the Early Paleolithic Period. Culturally, this has found a place in the Orthodox as a ritual. It was determined that the skull belonged to the 19th century. Some archaeological objects and coins found next to it say that this individual lived in the 19th century.”

Hitit University

Source: O. HETTO, G. KÖROĞLU, N. ÇORAĞAN, 2022 “Mosaic Panel on Refrigerium from Sinop Balatlar Church and its Place in Byzantine Iconography”, DOI:10.26650/artsanat.2022.17.946096

Related Articles

Scientists may have discovered pieces of the Asteroid that caused the extinction of the Dinosaurs

14 May 2022

14 May 2022

Scientists are piecing together remnants of the day the extinction of the dinosaurs began. A tiny fragment of the asteroid...

Archaeologists Find Mysterious 2,800-year-old Channels in Jerusalem

30 August 2023

30 August 2023

Archaeologists excavating in Jerusalem have uncovered a network of mysterious channels dating back to the days of King Joash and...

Scientists reconstruct Late Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean silver trade

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Scientists have recreated the Eastern Mediterranean silver trade across a time span that includes the conventional dates of the Trojan...

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists identify unknown sites and Serbia’s hidden Bronze Age megastructures

17 November 2023

17 November 2023

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists at University College Dublin identified more than 100 previously unknown sites. Satellite remote...

Perre Ancient City Set to Revive Its 1,800-Year-Old Grape Mill

26 January 2025

26 January 2025

In Perre, one of the five major cities of the Kingdom of Commagene, ancient production methods will meet today’s technology....

Australia’s 1,400-year-old Mysterious Earth Rings: Evidence of Millennia of Human Effort, Not Natural Formation

21 January 2025

21 January 2025

A chain of mysterious earth rings in the Sunbury hills at the fringe of Melbourne, in Australia have been found...

In Poland, a 45-meter-long mysterious tunnel found under the ruins of the Saxon Palace

9 September 2023

9 September 2023

A mysterious underground tunnel was found under the ruins of the Saski Palace in Pilsudski Square in Warsaw, the capital...

Hundreds Of Mummified Bees inside their Cocoons from the Time of the Pharaohs found in Portugal

25 August 2023

25 August 2023

Hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons have been found on the southwest coast of Portugal, in a new paleontological...

Four-face ivory dice found at Keezhadi excavation site in India

18 February 2022

18 February 2022

The Tamil Nadu Archaeological department along with the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed rectangular ivory dice,  in the excavation...

Hittite Royal Seal Warns ‘Whoever Breaks This Will Die’

7 July 2024

7 July 2024

During the excavations in Kırıkkale, a cuneiform seal used by the royal family during the Hittite Empire was unearthed. The...

Hunter-Gatherers Kept an ‘Orderly Home’ in the Earliest Known British Dwelling

25 July 2024

25 July 2024

Based on archaeological evidence from a Yorkshire site, new research suggests that hunter-gatherers probably kept an organized home with designated...

An extraordinary votive treasure was unearthed in the ancient Roman bath sanctuary of San Casciano Dei Bagni in Italy

7 August 2022

7 August 2022

In San Casciano Dei Bagni, a Tuscan hill town famous for its hot springs, 40 miles southeast of Siena, unique...

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...

Unique Gold Artefacts of Thracian Horseman Found in Bulgaria

23 August 2024

23 August 2024

The Topolovgrad Municipality posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday that during excavations at the site of a Thracian warrior’s...

Archaeologists unearthed the ruins of an imposing stoa from the Greco-Roman era in Sicily

1 April 2024

1 April 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of an imposing stoa from the Greco-Roman period in the small village of Tripi in...