Arkhaia Anatolika (Oct 2023)
2022 Yılı Aziz Nikolaos Kilisesi Naos Sondaj Çalışmalarının Ön Değerlendirmesi / Preliminary Evaluation of the Naos Sondage Works of St. Nicholas Church in 2022
Abstract
“St. Nicholas Memorial Museum Restoration and Landscaping Work” was carried out between the years of 2021-2022 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey under the control of the Antalya Directorate of Surveying and Monuments as well as the Demre Lycian Civilizations Museum. During the restoration period, the cement mortar floor stones in the naos of the church were removed, and the in situ floor tiles of the previous phase were exposed. The openings that may have formed in the ground after the destruction of the liturgical ambon and solea were then covered with unqualified floor coverings in the next phase. Based on these in situ floorings that were uncovered during the restoration works in 2022, five sondages were carried out in the naos. The purpose of sondages is to identify the different building phases of the church. In this study the soundings carried out in the naos of the Church of St. Nicholas in 2022, a preliminary evaluation of the obtained data to date, is presented to researchers in order to clarify the debates on the building phases and dating of the church. While the data obtained in 2022 supported some suggestions, it has allowed for new and important contributions to previous studies. In previous studies on the architecture of the Church of St. Nicholas, three main construction phases were identified. Building phase I, which follows the floor plan of a basilica, is dated to the aftermath of the great earthquake in 529. The soundings carried out in the naos in 2022 identify five building phases. It is likely that three of the phases were construction while the remaining two were repair. One of the most important results of the drilling works is the unearthing of the floors of the basilica planned building. The floors have been dated to the 6th century and provide clear documentation that this structure was built on a building/constructions that belonged to the Late Roman-Early Christian period. At the end of the studies, floor mosaics in the opus tessellatum technique with geometric and floral motifs were unearthed in this building, which we defined as the 1st phase. Whether these mosaics belong to an early phase of the Church of St. Nicholas or to the martyrion of the saint will be illuminated by future excavations.
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