A spolia ostotheke from Metropolis and Early Christian burial traditions

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the different uses made of a marble ostotheke (ossuary) that was discovered in 2021 during archaeological excavations in and around the church in the Araplıtepe district, near the ancient city of Metropolis. Information about the chest’s original use as a funerary object and its production date and ownership is followed by a discussion of its recycled (spolia) use as a sedimentation tank on a water channel, and by an explanation of its third and final function. A bronze lamp discovered inside the ostotheke provides important clues about the object’s final use and its relationship with its surroundings. Christian burials in and around the church dating to as early as the fifth to sixth centuries AD also provide insights into these processes. This ostotheke, which served a variety of functions from the second to the seventh centuries AD, shows that objects made in Roman times might continue to be used in different ways for a long time thereafter. This article therefore examines the ostotheke as a reflection and extension of the changing needs of people and communities over time, rather than simply as a carved marble object.