2 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Sensational find in Ephesus: more than 1,400-year-old district discovered

During this year’s excavations at Ephesus in Turkey, archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AW) discovered an incredibly well-preserved early Byzantine business and dining space that had apparently been destroyed suddenly in AD 614/615.

The discovery, according to the head of the excavation Sabine Ladstätter, is the most significant one to have occurred in the ancient city since the discovery of its renowned hill houses.

Ephesus is one of the world’s largest and most impressive ancient cities, as well as one of Turkey’s most important ancient cities. Its cultural and historical significance was highlighted in its addition to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2015. The remains of the city lie just 80 km inland from the popular seaside city of İzmir and close to the charming towns of Selcuk and Sirince.

Numerous oil lamps were unearthed in one of the shop rooms. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail

The newly discovered neighborhood is on Domitian Square, a prominent square directly adjacent to the Roman city’s political center, the Upper Agora. The excavations this year are part of a large research project on Ephesus’ changes between the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity.

Byzantine shops and workshops were built over a large Roman square complex, with the team focusing excavations on a structure consisting of several business premises that covers an area of around 170 square meters.

A storage room was also discovered, which was full of vessels that could still be found with their original contents. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail
A storage room was also discovered, which was full of vessels that could still be found with their original contents. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail

The researchers dug up filling material meters high and eventually arrived at a fire layer about half a meter thick. Sealed by this, a unique snapshot of life at the time was preserved at a depth of about 3.5 meters.

Individual rooms are preserved, containing thousands of pieces of ceramics, including whole bowls with the remains of seafood such as cockles or oysters, as well as amphorae filled with salted mackerel. Also found were thousands of barrels, including whole bowls of seafood remnants such as cockles or oysters, amphoras filled with salted mackerel, peach, almond, and olive kernels, charred pulses, with more than 700 copper coins and four matching gold coins and gold jewelry.

In the storage room there were numerous small jugs and cups, which can be assumed to have formed a set. Filled with wine, they were served to the clientele in adjacent rooms (tabernas). Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail

Based on the finds, it was also possible to reconstruct the earlier use of the rooms. So it is a cooking shop, a storage room, a tavern, a workshop with an adjoining sales room, and a shop for lamps and Christian pilgrim souvenirs (indicated by the discovery of around 600 small pilgrim bottles that were sold to Christian pilgrims).

However, coin dating indicates that the bustling trade and craft industry abruptly ended in the year 614/15 beneath the half-meter thick layer of fire. The scientists surmise a military conflict because there are no signs of an earthquake, such as shifted walls or vaulted floors. The numerous spearheads and arrowheads discovered also attest to this. The causes of this were unknown prior to this.

The Christian pilgrim ampoules were only a few centimeters in size and could be worn around the neck. They contained sacred substances, such as holy dust, which could thus be taken away from Christian pilgrimage sites. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail

Based on the new finds, “this turning point in the history of the city of Ephesus will probably have to be associated with the Byzantine–Sasanian War”.

Austrian Academy of Sciences

Cover Photo: OeAW-OeAI/Niki Gail

Related Articles

The Oldest Evidence of Stone Blade Production in Southern Arabia: 80,000-Year-Old Stone Blades Discovered

21 February 2025

21 February 2025

An international team of researchers led by Knut Bretzke of Friedrich Schiller University Jena uncovered 80,000-year-old stone blades at the...

Water Cultu in Hittites and Eflatunpınar Hittite Water Monument

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

The Hittites, which left their mark on the Bronze Age period in Anatolia, is a society that draws attention with...

2,700-year-old bronze figurine found in Germany’s Tollence River: goddess or weight?

9 April 2022

9 April 2022

A Bronze Age female figurine discovered in the Tollense River in northern Germany may have been a goddess, part of...

An Elite Nubian Woman’s Burial, Dating Back 4,000 Years, Reveals the Oldest Evidence of Tumpline Use

15 April 2025

15 April 2025

A recent study analyzing 30 ancient skeletons from the Abu Fatima cemetery in Nubia, Sudan, has revealed that women in...

Military veterans uncovered ‘richest grave this year’ on final dig at Anglo-Saxon Cemetery

19 July 2023

19 July 2023

During excavations at an Anglo-Saxon cemetery on military training lands on Salisbury Plain, military veterans have unearthed the richest tomb...

13,000-year-old Clovis campsite discovered in Michigan

10 September 2021

10 September 2021

In St. Joseph County, independent researcher Thomas Talbot and University of Michigan scholars uncovered a 13,000-year-old Clovis campsite, which is...

Who will solve the puzzle of Bronze Age tin? Origin of tin ingots from Uluburun shipwreck disputed – the metal may have come from Cornwall

3 October 2023

3 October 2023

The exact origin of tin in the Bronze Age is the Holy Grail of archaeometallurgists: For 150 years, experts have...

Archaeologists Uncover Roman London’s First Basilica Beneath an Office Basement

13 February 2025

13 February 2025

Archaeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery beneath an office building in London, unearthing a substantial section of the ancient city’s...

A 2,100-Year-Old Marble Statue of Mother Goddess Cybele Discovered in Ordu’s Ancient Kurul Castle

7 March 2025

7 March 2025

A breathtaking statue of the Mother Goddess Cybele, dating back 2100 years, was found at the historic Kurul Castle in...

The Earliest Evidence of Christianity on Bulgarian Territory Found in Roman city of Deultum

13 July 2024

13 July 2024

A silver amulet was discovered during excavations of the Deultum-Debelt National Archaeological Reserve, near the village of Debelt in the...

Particle physics and archeology collaboration uncovers secret Hellenistic underground chamber in Naples

13 May 2023

13 May 2023

The ruins of the ancient necropolis of Neapolis, built by the Greeks between the end of the fourth and the...

A gilded silver Anglo-Saxon object “made by someone with a real eye for loveliness” has the experts baffled

2 January 2024

2 January 2024

An enigmatic Anglo-Saxon object has been unearthed in a captivating discovery near Langham, Norfolk, East of England. This gilded silver...

Human Relief Found at Million Stone Excavation Site in İstanbul

18 July 2021

18 July 2021

The Milion Stone (also known as the Million Stone) from the Eastern Roman period is one of important the historical...

3500-year-old mysterious hieroglyphs discovered in Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa deciphered

12 October 2023

12 October 2023

Some of the Anatolian hieroglyphs discovered last year in the Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa, the former capital of the Hittite...

2600-year-old Med period artifacts found in Oluz Höyük, in Turkey

17 October 2022

17 October 2022

During the Oluz Höyük excavations in Amasya, artifacts dating back to the Med Kingdom period were found, dating back to...