A guerra destruiu tanto partes do Oriente Próximo que os estudiosos têm apenas alguns locais do Império Romano para estudar no que era a província romana da Síria. Mas os arqueólogos são capazes de trabalhar em alguns locais, incluindo Doliche, no que hoje é a Turquia, onde descobriram recentemente um maravilhoso mosaico de piso com um padrão delicado, casas, becos e dutos de água que lhes darão uma visão da vida cotidiana dos povos antigos. .

É importante estudar esses lugares porque centros urbanos desse tipo são pouco explorados e outros, como Apamea e Cyrrhus, foram destruídos, dizem pesquisadores da Universidade de Münster, na Alemanha.

“The situation today at the site of Apamea, one of the most important ancient cities of Syria, is particularly bad,” said archaeologist Englebert Winter the University of Münster’s Asia Minor Research Centre in a press release . “Illicit excavations, clearly visible in satellite imagery, have destroyed the entire urban area. It remains doubtful if research there will ever be possible again. The excavations in Cyrrhus, which had recently been resumed, also had to be stopped due to the current situation.”

Antioch, an ancient city and capital of the Roman province of Syria, is inaccessible because of modern construction. Therefore Doliche is very important. Winter said it will provide new information about the ancient urban culture of northern Syria.

The team of researchers plans to extend excavations from private homes into public areas of the ancient city. They hope to gain insight into the city of Doliche and its residents from the Greek era through the Crusades.

Archaeologists excavate the abbey of St. Solomon at Dülük Baba Tepesi, which is a mountain near Doliche where Romans and later Christians worshiped their various gods. (Photo by the University of Münster )

“The most outstanding discovery of our excavations is a high-quality mosaic floor in a splendid complex of buildings with a court enclosed by columns that originally covered more than 100 square meters [328 square feet],” archaeologist Michael Blömer was quoted as saying in the press release. “Because of its size and the strict, well-composed sequence of delicate geometric patterns, the mosaic is one of the most beautiful examples of late antique mosaic art in the region. These first findings already reveal the potential that the site has for further research into the environment of the urban elites and for questions as to the luxurious furnishing in urban area.”

The researchers are unclear as to the exact purpose of the building in which the mosaic was found but believe it to be the villa of a rich person.

Human habitation at the site of Doliche goes back much further than 2,000 years or so. The team of archaeologists from the University of Münster also has been excavating a nearby overhanging rock shelter that dates from between 600,000 BC to 300,000 BC. People settled there because of the presence of flint, from which they could make stone tools, said Professor Winter. He called the site central to the early history of mankind.

The dig turned up the bronze figurine of a stag dating to the first millennium BC at the mountain of Dülük Baba Tepesi, which neighbors Doliche. ( Photo by the University of Münster )

At a related dig, the neighboring mountain of Dülük Baba Tepesi, archaeologists for 15 years have been excavating the sanctuary of Iuppiter Dolichenus (who is not truly the same as Roman Jupiter), which the press release calls one of the most important gods of the Roman Iron Age. The site was used as a temple or sanctuary as far back as the ninth century BC, which makes it much older than researchers initially thought. As confirmation of this, they found a high-quality bronze figure of a stag dating to the first millennium BC. They also have discovered and have been excavating well-preserved parts of a wall enclosing the Roman sanctuary and parts of Christian abbey that was established on the mountaintop after the heathen cult there ended.

Imagem em destaque: Este mosaico delicadamente elaborado foi escavado na possível vila de um rico em Roman Doliche, uma das poucas áreas na Síria romana onde os arqueólogos podem trabalhar. (Foto da Universidade de Münster)