Juliopolis (Iuliopolis) Anthropological Research: Preliminary Results

Abstract

Juliopolis (Iuliopolis) is an ancient city located in Nallıhan district of Ankara. The excavations at the Necropolis of Juliopolis have been carried out by the Directorate of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum since 2009. The necropolis is located in the Çayırhan district of Nallıhan, approximately 122 km northwest of Ankara. According to the archaeological research, the necropolis had been used during the Hellenistic Period and continued to be used during Roman and Byzantine Empires. More than 500 tombs have been uncovered so far, and a large number of human skeletons have been recovered from these tombs. This paper aims to present the preliminary results of the Juliopolis Anthropological Research Project which intends to obtain information about the lives of the inhabitants of Juliapolis or Ancient Ankara by the bioarcheological study of the human remains which were recovered in the necropolis. During the study conducted on the most crowded chamber tomb, which is considered to be in use for a long time in the necropolis, bone and tooth residues belonging at least 57 from both sexes and all age groups were found. The hair remains on the skull of an old man buried in a wooden coffin in a sarcophagus were examined with the help of light and scanning electron microscopes and their morphological characteristics were evaluated. In addition to this, a facial traits reconstruction study was performed based on the computerized tomography data of the skull obtained from a grave and a three-dimensional face of a middle-aged man who lived in Juliopolis was exposed.

Keywords

• bioarchaeology
• hellenistic period
• roman period
• byzantine period
• necropolis of juliopolis
• ankara