Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered an ancient church at the site of the ancient city of Adramyttion. The discovery was made last week during excavations in the area and the church is thought to date back 1,200 years.
The ancient city of Adramyttion was located in the Balikesir province at the northwest of Turkey. Excavations at the site have been carried out for the past six years and are led by Balıkesir Kuvayi Milliye Museum Directorate and Burhaniye Municipality, comprising a team of 30 archaeologists.
This is the second church found at the site. A church dating to the 11th century AD had been found earlier at the site, in “Area C”, and the new discovery is also located in the same area.
The site has yielded archaeologically significant discoveries from various times, dating back to the Chalcolithic period. Assistant Professor Huseyin Murat Ozgen, who is participating in the excavation project as a consultant, said that Bronze Age, Iron Age, ancient Greek and Roman settlements have also been found in the ancient city. However, the Eastern Roman period left the former settlements badly damaged. The ancient city of Adramyttium was very important in the Byzantine times, and the church’s apses were probably decorated with murals, as the findings suggest.
Inside the church archaeologists found kitchen utensils. Specialists think the church was used until the early 14th century. The church might have been used in a different way, as tombs found underneath it indicate.