Gumusler nekropolis

Master's Thesis consists of 17 graves and archaeological finds belonging to these graves, which were discovered during the construction of Erbakır Science High School in Gümüşler Town of Denizli Province in 1997 and excavated by Denizli Museum. Gümüşler Necropolis is located in the Lycus Valley and is included in the Laodikeia territorium, approximately 8.4 kilometres to the west of this city. It is known that the territory of Laodicea covers an area of approximately 30.000 hectares, which corresponds to two-thirds of the Lycus Valley. Two different types of graves were unearthed in Gümüşler Necropolis: sarcophagi and terracotta tile roof graves. The most numerous of these sarcophagi unearthed in Gümüşler Necropolis were fossilised travertine boat graves. Terracotta tile-roofed and fossilised travertine sarcophagus boat graves were among the grave types unearthed in Laodicea Necropolis. It was also found that the grave goods belonging to the Gümüşler Necropolis were parallel to the artefacts unearthed in the Laodikeia Necropolis. It is understood that only a few of the grave owners in Gümüşler Necropolis had a high level of wealth, while the majority of them had lower incomes. Grave No. A1, dated to the Early Hellenistic Period, was enlightening in this regard, and thanks to its rich finds, it could be determined that it belonged to a woman with a high level of wealth. The fact that no grave goods were recovered from some graves suggested that they might have been robbed in the Antiquity Period. However, the fact that no grave goods were found in the tiled tombs G1, G2 and G3, despite the presence of bone fragments belonging to the skeleton, could be evidence of different status and welfare levels in the necropolis area. In the light of the typological evaluations of the graves in Gümüşler Necropolis and the stylistic and typological evaluations of the funerary gifts, it was shown that they belonged to a period extending from the Early Hellenistic Period to the middle of the 2nd century AD.