The aim of the investigations in 2023 was to continue research into the Roman city centre in the south-east of the ancient city area. The work was made possible thanks to the support of the University of Münster, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the University of Pisa and the Historisch-Archäologische Freundeskreis Münster e. V.

The work in the area of the Roman temple

In 2021, sections of a monumental temple from the Roman imperial period were discovered to the west of a Roman thermal bath complex in the centre of Doliche, the exploration of which was continued in 2022. It is the most surprising discovery to date in the centre of Doliche. The temple is characterised not only by its size, but also by its unusual architecture, especially the large apse in the west of the cella. Unfortunately, the temple was almost completely dismantled after its destruction, so that only the foundation trenches can be recognised in most areas. Nevertheless, the excavations will make it possible to largely reconstruct this important building for the knowledge of the development of Roman architecture in south-east Anatolia.

In the summer of 2023, five excavation sections were made in the area of the temple in order to better understand its extent and furnishings. Further excavation of the southern aisle of the temple this year revealed that beneath thick layers of rubble, the mosaic floor of the aisle, the western end of which was uncovered last year, is still well preserved over a length of 6 metres. In contrast, no remains of the southern cella wall can be found; only a 1.5 metre wide foundation trench cut into the rock indicates its course. The same applies to the inner column position that separated the side aisle from the nave. Here, too, only the empty foundation trench remains, at the bottom of which the imprints of the lost ashlars can be recognised. Nevertheless, the foundation trench proves beyond doubt that there was an inner colonnade.

Further cuts were also made to investigate the south-east corner of the temple. Beneath layers of rubble, a larger area lined with ashlars was revealed, which belonged to the foundations of a terrace on which the south-west corner of the temple stood. The construction of such a terrace was necessary because the terrain sloped southwards in this area and therefore an artificial platform had to be created. Of the foundations of the terrace, the eastern end of the foundation of the cella wall or the ante in the extension of the cella wall can be clearly recognised in the north-west corner. It is made of larger and uniform blocks. The total length of the cella wall with ante was 55 metres. To the east is a bed of hand-sized stones and mortar running from north to south, which obviously served as a base for a foundation of limestone blocks. This must have supported the columns at the front of the temple. Remains of a hard limestone paving with a shallow drainage channel show the ancient floor level from the time the temple was in use.

The north-west corner of the temple, which was partially uncovered last year, was also investigated. The central finding is a rectangular room that is older than the temple and was built from interlocking mirror ashlars. Its function remains unclear, especially as no clearly defined floor has been preserved. During the construction of the temple, the south-east corner and the south wall of the room were destroyed, while the bases of the other walls remained partially intact. The interior was filled in to raise the ground level. In the process, large quantities of pottery from the late Hellenistic period up to the 2nd century AD were brought in, as well as many bones.

To the east of this room and north of the cella wall, the rock is cut vertically from north to south. The resulting step probably marks the beginning of the foundation trench for the northern outer column position of the temple.

Another aim was to find the foundations of the southern inner pillar position of the temple. In addition, two cistern openings visible in this area were to be completely uncovered. Although the excavations did not unearth any building features, excavations of the bedrock provided indications of the layout of the area in antiquity, revealing the course of the southern inner pillar position. In order to support this, the rock surface in the south-west of the cut was carefully smoothed. Towards the east, however, the rock is so porous and soft that it was not suitable for bearing heavy loads. It was therefore necessary to build a foundation here, for which a 2 metre deep trench was dug into the rock. The ashlars that filled this foundation trench were completely robbed out. To the north of the foundation trench, the rock surface is only roughly levelled. Here, a cistern whose roof had collapsed could be excavated to a depth of 1.5 metres. Further to the north is another cistern, the mouth of which is surrounded by a ring of quarry stones. All the cisterns were completely filled in. Coin finds suggest that the cisterns were built in Mamluk times, when the city was already completely abandoned.

The work in the Dolichen city archive

During the excavations in the centre of the ancient city of Doliche in 2017 and 2019, the foundations of a room made of massive ashlars were excavated, which could be identified as part of the Doliche city archives based on the discovery of around 4,000 seal impressions. However, the dimensions of the room and whether it was part of a larger building complex remained unclear. Further excavations were carried out in 2023 to clarify these questions. The aim was to uncover the entire room and explore its urban context. The aim was also to investigate how the area between the archive building and the adjoining thermal baths to the west was designed. To this end, a total of four sections were created, each of which directly adjoined the areas excavated in 2017 and 2019. In total, an area of 103 square metres was investigated.

The excavations showed that the already known archive room is part of a long rectangular, north-south orientated archive wing, which is divided into at least three room units by tongue walls. The tract is 7 metres wide on the inside and can be traced over a length of 11.4 metres to the south. The tongue walls are each 2 metres long, so they form 3-metre-wide passageways between the rooms. All of the exposed walls are the remains of foundations. Nothing remains of the floor or the rising masonry. However, a further 2,000 seal impressions were recovered from the backfill of the rooms. This required extensive wet sieving of the entire excavated material, as the very small seal impressions (0.5-2 cm), which are also often fragmented, cannot otherwise be recognised with the naked eye. The seal impressions clearly show that documents written on papyrus and parchment were kept here. These documents were sealed with strings around which small lumps of clay were placed, into which sealing rings were pressed to seal the documents. These seal impressions only survived if the archive was destroyed by a severe fire, whereas the documents themselves were burnt.

The majority of the seal impressions are official seals, i.e. seals of city officials or institutions. These are characterised by their particular size and also show images closely associated with Doliche, for example the city’s main gods. However, they differ from private seals primarily in that they are available in numerous impressions. For example, more than 30 examples of the seal with the city goddess, the Tyche of Doliche, have been identified.

The excavations have also shown that the archive wing was part of a larger building complex. Separated by a gap only 1.4 metres wide, a trench cut into the rock parallel to the north wall of the archive and still partially filled with ashlars has been preserved, which served as the foundation for another wall. The fact that both walls belong to the same building complex is proven by excavations in the rock, which show that the east wall of the archive wing continued northwards beyond the end of the room and connected to the second wall. It remains unclear what function this second wall had. It must have belonged to one or more rooms located to the north of the archive wing. However, they were probably not used to store documents, as no seal impressions were found in this area during earlier excavations. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the entire building complex had a public function.

Another important finding from the excavations is that the archive wing directly adjoined the baths to the west. In the south-west corner, the corner of a room was recorded, the floor of which was covered with square bricks. This undoubtedly belongs to a hypocaust and can therefore still be assigned to the baths. The mortar bedding of the brick floor lies on a platform of ashlar blocks, which covers large parts of the section and was also used as the foundation for the western outer wall of the archive. This suggests that the baths and archive were built in one go. Alternatively, it could be surmised that the construction of the baths necessitated the remodelling of parts of the administrative building complex.

Summary and perspectives

In 2023, important new insights were gained into the development of Doliche during the Roman Empire. Work in the temple has confirmed that it was one of the largest sacred buildings in south-east Anatolia. The total width of the cella is 25.5 metres, including an outer colonnade, the building was approx. 35 metres wide. The length of the temple could now also be determined with certainty; it is approx. 58 metres. The investigation of the height levels has revealed that the temple in the west, where the entrance was located, stood on a podium at least 1.70 m high, which could be reached via a central flight of steps, although this has not yet been proven archaeologically. The finding is of great importance for our knowledge of sacred architecture in the Roman period, especially as no inner-city sanctuaries from cities in northern Syria have yet been archaeologically investigated. The temple at Doliche shows that monumental cult buildings existed in these cities, such as those previously known primarily from Palmyra and the cities of southern Syria. In view of the importance of the cities of northern Syria in antiquity, this is not a surprising finding, but it can now be verified archaeologically for the first time. The architectural ornamentation shows that the temple was built in the Antonine period, i.e. around the middle of the 2nd century AD. It is still not possible to say with certainty to whom the temple was dedicated, but the size of the building and the apse suggest that it was a temple of the imperial cult.

This year’s work has also contributed to a better understanding of the Dolichen archive. It has become clear that the archive was a sequence of several rooms connected by wide passageways. It is also becoming clear that the Dolichen archive wing was part of a larger building complex, the extent of which cannot yet be determined. It can be assumed that it was a building that housed various municipal institutions. The importance of the Dolichen archive cannot be overestimated despite the poor preservation of the building fabric. Although all ancient cities had archives, very few have been archaeologically proven. Apart from the Dolichen building, only a handful of other urban archives are known.

Both the temple and the archive were destroyed in 253 when the Persians conquered the city. After that, the city centre was abandoned and used as a quarry. Only in the west of the temple can later phases of use be recognised. There are plans to continue excavations in the temple and archive in 2024. The excavation areas in the south and north of the temple are to be connected in order to completely uncover the entire apse. In addition, the western end of the temple will be further investigated in order to better understand the design of the entrance and the position of the columns of the front.