During the drilling works done to get hold of the interrupted defensive wall in the 2013 excavation season, a Roman house was found approximately 5 meters south of the rampart. Works revealed 6 rooms and 1 portico in the Roman house. There were three rooms on the north and three rooms on the south of the around 7.5 m. long portico. First room and the portico had mosaic floorings. The mosaic in the portico was made up of six different panels and mainly engraved with geometrical shapes, giyos motifs were used in side friezes, and a pomegranate motif was used in the central panel.
The room no.1 which is approximately 4x6.90 meters has a wide entrance. Although much of the mosaics of the room had been destroyed, the remaining is spectacular. At the entrance of room no.1 a snake twined around a branch and an animal figure preserved up to its waist first meet the eye. The geometrical decorations in the centre are circled with a curb in the shape of an ivy branch.
Another room was discovered next to room no.1 with brick flooring, probably used as a kitchen or a storeroom. Part of the walls of this room with red and yellow plasters was preserved. No mosaic or brick flooring was preserved in the other four rooms.
The Roman house constructed upon the rampart fillings lies about 140 meters west of the Maritime Villa. The technics, the workmanship and the archaeological findings suggest that it was built around the same period with the Maritime Villa. Evidence asserts that the early stages of the Roman House correspond to the beginnings of 4th century BC.
It is regarded that the complex structure and the walls next to Dereboyu (downstream) opening, as well as the late Roman bath house on the east of that structure and the Roman layers coincide with the same period as the building. The works hereafter will be concentrated in interpreting these relations. At the end of the excavation season of 2013, a part of the house was unearthed and the findings were conserved. The data obtained reinforced the idea that the area which contains Maritime Villa and the Roman House had been a “riches district”.
Ertuğrul KIRAÇ
Archaeologist
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