The twin tomb’s stone cover is believed to have been removed and taken away during the Byzantine period.
A twin sarcophagus tomb carved into a giant rock on Gökçeada, an island in the northwestern province of Çanakkale, is drawing attention as one of the important surviving remains of ancient İmroz.
Reyhan Körpe, a professor at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History, said the stone tomb, located on the southern slopes of the island overlooking the Aegean Sea, was part of a necropolis and served as a funerary monument.
The twin tomb, located within the boundaries of the ancient city of Imroz in southern Gökçeada, dates to the fourth or third century B.C. Its stone cover is believed to have been removed and taken away during the Byzantine period.
Körpe said the approximately 2,400-year-old tomb was one of the important remains of Imroz and had been damaged during the Byzantine period.
Körpe noted that Gökçeada was known as İmroz in antiquity.
“Archaeological excavations in Imroz show that settlement on the island dates back to the Neolithic Age, around 8,000 years ago,” she said.
“Imroz was also the name of an important ancient city on the island. This ancient city was located where Kaleköy stands today in Gökçeada. In other words, Kaleköy was an important ancient settlement that was used from the seventh or eighth century B.C. until the Byzantine period,” Körpe said.
Körpe stressed that it is possible to encounter very interesting remains around Gökçeada.
“Especially the stone funerary monument on the southern slope of the island, overlooking the Aegean Sea, which we could call a ‘twin tomb’ or ‘twin sarcophagus,’ is one of the important remains of Imroz,” she said.
“The sarcophagus here was carved directly into the natural rock. The twin tomb is actually part of the necropolis, a funerary monument. But the fact that it was carved in a twin form makes it particularly interesting,” she added.
The tomb probably dates to the fourth or third century B.C. and resembles many stone tombs found in the region, she said.
“The sarcophagus here was probably looted during the Byzantine period. Its stone cover was removed and taken away for use in construction during the Byzantine period. But the sarcophagus troughs were left there. They have survived to the present day without being destroyed. They are almost a symbol of Gökçeada today,” Körpe said.
An ancient twin tomb carved directly into natural rock on Gokceada dates to the fourth or third century BC and is considered one of the island’s significant surviving archaeological remains
