Archaeologists have resumed work at the Roman baths of ancient Tyana in central Türkiye, two decades after the last excavations at the site ended.
The baths stand in Kemerhisar, a town in the Bor district of Niğde province. The new season is part of the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Heritage for the Future project and is led by Professor Osman Doğanay of the archaeology department at Aksaray University.
Tyana was a leading city of Cappadocia under Roman rule, and the bath complex was commissioned by Emperor Caracalla in AD 213. Doğanay told Anadolu Agency that the building was also altered under the emperors who followed Caracalla, saying the team could confirm this "with certainty." He described the complex as unlike anything else in the region, saying no comparable bath of this type exists in Cappadocia.
Built for warmth and water
The baths sit on the southern slopes of the Tyana mound, a position chosen to catch as much heat as possible. Archaeologists believe much of their water came via aqueducts from a reservoir known as the Roman Pool; water pipes found between the pool and the baths support that view.
Excavations first took place between 2002 and 2006, uncovering numerous remains and finds. Since then researchers have mapped the layout and confirmed that the structure served as a public bathhouse. Test trenches dug to a depth of almost two meters have shown that it was built on top of a Bronze Age layer.
Searching for a gymnasium
This season's work is largely devoted to clearing rubble and debris, with protective measures in place for the standing remains. The longer-term aims are to identify the earlier building phases of the baths and to look for associated structures such as a palaestra, an open courtyard for exercise, or a gymnasium, which combined physical and intellectual training.
Doğanay said the team plans to expose every section of the complex and establish whether sports facilities were attached to it. He also expects to uncover evidence of activity in the city long before the Roman period. He believes there are at least two more bathhouses elsewhere in Tyana, and efforts to locate them will begin.
The excavators also hope to bring the baths into visitor routes through the ancient city once the work allows.
Sources
Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
