MessageToEagle.com – Recent discovery of surgical instruments and burial chambers unearthed during excavations in the ancient city of Philadelphia in the Central Anatolia, Turkey indicates that the ancient city was the health center of the Taşeli region. The excavations at the site of Philadelphia started in 2015.
Various architectural remains of the settlement survived on a hill, with a necropolis located on the northern part of the hill,” informs Hurriyet Daily News.
“Antiochus established the Germanikopolis [Ermenek] and Philadelphia [Gökçeseki] cities and named them Germanicus, one of the titles of the emperor, and Philadelphia, his wife’s name. The name Philadelphia means ‘brotherly love’ at the same time,” Karaman Museum Director Abdülbari Yıldız said.
The region where Philadelphia was located, was gifted to Kommagene King Antiochus 4th and his wife Lotape Philadelphos by Roman Emperor Caligula in 38 A.D.
“The excavations unearthed eight sarcophagi and a burial chamber in a field where illegal excavations were always carried out. In the west of the second sarcophagi group, an ancient field of waste was found. The artifacts found in this field were vows gifted to sarcophagi during ceremonies.
The excavations have unearthed 2,100 movable cultural assets. Among them are 11 busts made of limestone, nearly 600 sharp objects such as catheters, medicine bottles and surgeon’s knives, coins, ceramic and glass pieces and ornaments,” Yıldız said.
Archaeologists have unearthed a large number of human bones, skulls and metal objects like chain, rings and coins in the burial chamber.
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“The skeletons were examined in the university’s anthropology laboratory, the expert explained. It was found that they were the remains of 53 people. Their age and gender were determined; infection was found in five people and head trauma in two of them. It shows that those who came here for treatment died and were buried in this mass grave. We also think that this grave served as a morgue, too.”
Also the medical tools discovered at the site are very interesting.
“Nearly 600 medical tools were unearthed in the excavations. Among them were spatulas, catheters, medicine tubes and surgery instruments. Also, a crescent was seen in the necklaces of two female sculptures. The crescent depicts the God Men, a god living in the western and central parts of Anatolia in 4,000 B.C. He was the protector of poor and sick people. The moon was his symbol and he healed people with its power. These findings tell us that the ancient city was a health center.”
The restoration and conservation of 107 of the findings were made in the Antalya Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory.
“The others were restored in the Karaman University lab. The excavations will continue this year. These artifacts are now on display at the museum and draw great attention. We are trying to find who the busts belonged to. If we can, maybe the busts of very important people in history will be seen for the first time,” Yıldız concluded.
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