Dara

Anastasiopolis

Turkey · Mardin

Ancient cityExcavation ongoing
Approximate period505 CE — 1,300 CELate Antiquity and the Middle Ages See on the map ↓

In brief

Dara was founded in 505 during the reign of Emperor Anastasius as a garrison city guarding the Sasanian frontier. Excavations are uncovering its necropolis, water infrastructure and commercial buildings.

What was found?

  • 1Large water cisterns

    The city's large cisterns are surviving parts of its water storage system. They are important for understanding the infrastructure of a frontier garrison city.

  • 2Drinking water channel

    Excavations identified a 30-metre section of a 400-metre-long drinking water channel described as 1500 years old. The find provides tangible evidence of the city's water conveyance system.

  • 3Shops and workshops in the marketplace

    More than 10 shops and workshops were uncovered around the agora. These spaces reveal the commercial and productive life of the garrison city.

  • 4Roman and Late Antique ceramics

    Ceramic research identified examples from different parts of the Mediterranean and from Iran together. The vessels make it possible to trace Dara's connections beyond the region.

What does it point to?

Dara's defensive function was accompanied by urban life with water infrastructure and commercial spaces. Ceramics from different production regions indicate that the frontier city was connected to an extensive network of goods circulation.

What did it teach us?

  1. Showed that storage and conveyance structures were used together to meet the garrison city's water needs.
  2. Revealed the city's spaces for trade and production through the shops and workshops around the agora.
  3. Documented the presence of ceramics of Mediterranean and Iranian origin in the same city.

Images

Western cistern in Dara
Oystercard · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Videos

Latest news / selected archive

Excavations in 2024 uncovered more than ten shops and workshops in the marketplace; a section of a drinking water channel approximately 1500 years old was identified.

Record

Culture
Eastern Roman
First modern dig
1986
Team / historical
Mardin Museum
Coordinates
37.1778°, 40.9411°

Sources

  1. mardin.ktb.gov.tr
  2. acikerisim.msgsu.edu.tr
  3. aa.com.tr
  4. en.wikipedia.org

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