Excavations continue at the Assos Archaeological Site, a Hellenistic city in modern-day Turkey with 7,000 years of continuous habitation from the Paleolithic period to the present.
The year’s fieldwork targets the main entrance axis of the city, tracing the necropolis, a previously untouched gate, and an ancient cemetery. The existence of the necropolis area in the most important entrance direction of the city will be investigated, said Prof. Dr. Nurettin Arslan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. The research aims to understand the burial traditions and farewell rituals of the people of Assos from thousands of years ago, and there is a large necropolis area in front of the West Gate.
At the Eastern Gate, when the city was planned, the main gates were generally built towards the directions from which the main roads came, said Arslan, according to A Haber. The Eastern Gate greets the ancient road coming from Antandros, with a cemetery area in front, and is supported by two towers connecting to the street from the port; the gate is among the year’s work areas. The team will research how the gate links to the road and the Agora and determine the burial tradition and chronology of the necropolis toward the port. The Eastern Gate was not previously researched.
Studies will continue in different regions of the city and in structures and areas belonging to different periods. In 2025, excavations will continue in the Agora, focusing on the North Stoa. “Our aim here is actually to uncover the eastern part of this large structure and in the coming years to carry out a restoration of a corner of this structure, especially to enable visitors to obtain more information about this structure,” said Arslan.
From the Byzantine period, the Ksenodokhion - an early guesthouse complex built in the 5th century CE and used until the 7th century, with a chapel, furnaces, taverns, and warehouses - remains a focus, and excavations continue in one of its spaces.
On the acropolis, there will be small drillings to uncover when the castle was built and the Byzantine phases there, with the aim of researching the process by which the acropolis - home to the only example in the country of the Doric order built in the Archaic period - was transformed into a castle supported by round and square towers. The ancient city is protected by city walls, and the walls and gates built in the 4th century BCE were among the structures of the Early Hellenistic period. Excavations began in 1980, and most of these walls are standing.
A bath from the early Ottoman period was uncovered last year; this year, research continues to locate its cistern.
In the Assos Ancient City, the theater leaning against the slope of the natural rock south of the Agora has a horseshoe plan and is a typical Greek theater. “The restoration project of the theater and then the implementation project is planned to be realized this year,” said Arslan, according to Halk TV.
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