B093: Taşoluk Sanctuary and Church Blocks

Page reference: Christopher Ratté and Peter D. De Staebler (eds.). Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey (Verlag Philipp von Zabern: Darmstadt/Mainz, 2012), 71, 85, 236, 354, 365, 387, 389 - Book catalogue no.: Churches cat. 12. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92617>

B093

Sanctuaries and Churches4: Roman5: Late Roman3: Hellenistic

Local Name: Taşoluk MevkiiLocal Informant: Muhamet ÇetintaşLocal Information: Local farmers confirmed that previously the ruins of a church were at this site.Latitude: 37.47.35.328Longitude: 28.47.22.329Elevation: 1406.77Description: Located high on the ridge northwest of Aphrodisias at nearly 1,400 masl, the site is on a well-watered natural terrace overlooking the Maeander river valley, just northeast of Tekçam, the pass that crosses the Baba Dağı ridge on the road between the Morsynus river valley and ancient Attouda (near modern Hisar). The terrace stands above fertile highland pastures stretching down to the Maeander valley. ** In 2006, no standing ruins were visible and part of the terrace had recently been graded for use as an agricultural field. The ground was covered with a dense scatter of sherds and roof tiles. Numerous architectural blocks were scattered across the terrace, some piled on the edges of the field and others kept for reuse in the field walls or in the gardens of the nearby summer cottages. Some of the many worked marble blocks bore clamp cuttings and anathyrosis, and these evidently came from a substantial Hellenistic or Early Roman structure. These blocks included three orthostates (H: 0.73 m–0.75 m; W: 1.10 m–1.18 m; D: 0.24 m–0.28 m), a base molded block (H: ** 0.51 m; W: 1.03; D: 0.36 m), a white marble cornice block (H: 0.24 m; W: 1.12 m; D: 0.75 m), and three other molded marble blocks, one with crossed lewis cuttings. In addition to these earlier blocks, there were numerous elements that clearly belonged to an Early Christian church. These included two screen panels identical to the one seen at Ataköy (A020, H: 0.91; W: 1.01 m; D: 0.15 m), one kept as a curiosity in the garden of a summer house and the other reused in the fountain basin of the spring on the terrace. With the former panel was a circular ambo platform, broken in two, with molded profile and rectangular projections on opposite sides. In another place on the terrace was a large marble slab, apparently in situ, together with a conspicuous amount of tile and white lime mortar, and a double-engaged column base and a matching capital (H: 0.52 m; W: 0.40 m; D: 0.83 m). Other architectural pieces in house gardens possibly from the church are two fragments of a square colonette (H: 0.40 and 0.70 m; 0.18 m square); a small marble pedestal (H: 0.27 m; W at base: 0.29 m; W at top: 0.21 m; D: 0.24 m); a fragment of a column shaft (Diam: 0.60 m); a larger pedestal base, badly broken with only one corner preserved; two additional double-engaged column capitals of roughly the same size as the one found on the terrace, one inscribed with a mason's mark E; and a small worked marble piece used as paving stone with a mason's mark Z. ** By the time of a return visit in 2008, the entire terrace had been completely regraded and leveled by heavy earth-moving equipment, and many recently uncovered architectural blocks had been used to build a canal that channels the spring water to the terrace. The remaining ancient blocks had been broken up and thrown down from the terrace into a dump. According to local inhabitants, a spring-water bottling facility was being constructed at the site. ** The assorted architectural elements suggest two monumental building phases on the site. The large orthostates and cornices should be Hellenistic or Early Roman, and on the evidence of the surface pottery, this phase can be dated to the first century B.C. or AD. In this period, a building of significant size was constructed here, probably near the spring, and it was likely a temple or shrine (though nothing about the blocks precludes their having been part of a large tomb). If the structure was, as we believe, a temple, it was most probably dedicated to Meter Adrastou, the chief deity of nearby Attouda, as indicated by the votive inscription seen at the house at Ataköy. It is likely that this site lay outside the territory of ancient Aphrodisias, and that the crest of the ridge marked the border between the two cities' territories. ** The second monumental phase at the site is indicated by the architectural elements that should come from an Early Christian church. The decorated screen panels, the ambo platform, and the smaller columns (perhaps window mullions) with the associated pedestal bases and double capitals are all Early Christian in date. The three marble screen panels decorated with crosses could belong to the parapet of the solea, to the templon barrier, or to the intercolumnar screen of the nave colonnade. ** The history of this site may parallel that of the Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias. Just as the primary pagan religious site of that city was Christianized and converted into a cathedral in roughly A.D. 500, a church may have been built at the primary extramural sanctuary of Attouda at about the same time.Finds: Pottery and many marble blocks. ** In main field: 3 orthostates, 1 orthostate base, 1 double column capital, 2 double column bases(?), tile, white lime mortar ** Surrounding the field: 1 cornice block with dentils, 1 molded block with lewis cuttings, 3 molded architectural fragments, 1 parapet/screen block ** Various gardens: 1 parapet/screen block, 2 molded bases, 2 colonettes, 1 small pedestal base, 1 larger pedestal base, 2 double engaged column capitals, 1 column fragment (used in modern cistern), 1 small worked block, 1 large worked block (used as paving stone)

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