Laodikeia Nekropolü'nden kremasyon kapları

Abstract

Cremation Vases (Urns) from the Laodikeia Necropoleis Laodikeia is located on the western edge of the region knownas Phrygia in antiquity, 6 kilometres northeast of the modern city of Denizli. The province of Denizli is locaıed in western Anatolia. Laodikeia was founded by the Seleucid King Antiochos II in the middle of the 3rd century (261-253 B.C.) and was named after his wife Laodike. Cremation vases were first found in 2005 and more were uncovered in the 2007-2009 excavation seasons in the Northeast, Northwest, and West Necropoleis. Cremation vases help to understand the burial customs of the city. The 32 cremation vases that have been unearthed have local features and are products of workshops at Laodikeia, but they have different forms (amphora, pelike, crater-stamnos, pot, pıthos-pot). These vases (urns) show the existence of cremation as well as inhumation asa burial rite at Laodikeia. Most of the cremation burials were placed randomly in the necropolis although a few were laut in a bas in or in vaulted tombs. Some of the former cremation graves (urns) were surrounded by a row of river pebbles or mortared rubble. The ashes and bones of the cremated were placed in the cremation vases (urns) in an orderlyway. The feet came first and the skull was the last element of the dead that was placed in the urn. In only one of the urn graves were found metal objects - a nail and a bronze hairpin. An unguentariun was also found in one of the urn grave. Another broken unguentarium was found with its rim placed in the uın and its body in the neck of the urn. Most of the cremation vases ( urns) were dosed with conical-shaped lids, but some were dosed with plates and bowls. These vessels were used as both covers and plates on which were placed food offerings for the dead. Likewise, a conical lid was placed upside down over the mouth of a cremation vase (urn) to hold the feast offering. Flat lids and tile fragments were also found covering some of the urns. The crernation vases (urns) Jound during the Laodikeia necropolis excavations were used form 2nd century B.C. to the second half of the 1st century A.D. This dating ofthe urns was made possible with the help of the bowls and plates placed on the mouth of the urns, and the archaeological context of the graves.