Archaeologists have unearthed a burial site in İzmir, Turkey, dating back to the 3rd century, which contains more than just the remains of a Roman gladiator.
Reused in the 5th century for Christian burials, the site holds twelve bodies interred alongside the ancient fighter, indicating a complex history of the location, which later transformed into a basilica and then a domed church during the reign of Justinian I.
Located amidst impressive ruins, the burial site was discovered just twenty centimeters beneath the surface. The team, led by Assistant Professor Sinan Mimaroglu from the Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, found one tomb and three structures resembling tombs with twelve individuals inside.
Upon careful examination, they identified the name 'Euphrates' inscribed on the original tomb, belonging to the Roman gladiator. Additionally, they uncovered twelve more bodies and three 5th-century cross reliefs, suggesting these individuals were likely of high status or clergy, as it is deemed unlikely that lower-class individuals would be buried with such meticulous care.
The tomb's lid appears to have been added in the 7th and 8th centuries, with repairs to the lower mosaic occurring after the era of Justinian.
In a related discovery in the southern suburbs of Paris, a Frenchman renovating his basement uncovered dozens of medieval skeletons and ten sarcophagi. Archaeologists assert that these remains could provide valuable insights into the population that inhabited the region during the early Middle Ages and Antiquity.