10.09.2025 10:11
Excavations at the Apollon Smintheus Sanctuary in the Ayvacık district of Çanakkale have uncovered a heating system in a bath dating back 1700 years to the Roman period. The 'hypocaust' system reveals the operational principles of the bath.
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The excavation and restoration work that started in 1980 at the Apollon Smintheus Sacred Area in Gülpınar village, connected to the Ayvacık district, is being carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in coordination with the Çanakkale Archaeology (Troy) Museum and the Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate. Since 2011, it has been conducted under the official sponsorship of İÇDAŞ A.Ş. and, for about 2 years, the new supporter HYDRO WORKS Engineering Industry and Trade Limited Company, with a team of approximately 20 people, including 15 students and 6 workers, led by Prof. Dr. Davut Kaplan from the Department of Archaeology at Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University. The work is being carried out within the scope of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's 'Future Heritage Project'.
The archaeological excavation work for the year 2025, which started about 3 months ago, continues in the 'West Bath' located in the western part of the Apollon Smintheus Sacred Area. Detailed excavation work has begun in the bath identified in previous years' excavations. During the excavation work, heating systems from the floor and walls of the approximately 1700-year-old 'caldarium' were discovered. The 'hypocaust' systems, also known as underfloor heating, were also uncovered, revealing the working principles of the Roman bath.
EXCAVATION WORK HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS Prof. Dr. Davut Kaplan, a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University and the Excavation Director of Smintheion (Apollon Smintheus Sacred Area), stated that they started the 2025 excavation work earlier, saying, "We started about 3 months ago. This year we are happy because we are now also benefiting from the Future Heritage Project. The only problem here is the labor issue that exists all over Turkey. There are no people in rural areas anymore; everyone lives in big cities, and we work in rural areas, so our number of workers is actually low. We have the capacity to hire workers, but we cannot find them. Instead, we are using as many students as possible. Currently, we have 18 students working with us who applied to our excavation from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Young Volunteer Page and want to work as volunteers in the field. Among them are anthropology students, including graduates, restorers, archaeologists, and architects," he said.
UNDERFLOOR HEATING SYSTEM IN THE WEST BATH Prof. Dr. Davut Kaplan stated, "One of the gifts and services of the Romans to humanity is their invention of heated baths. These baths are the ancestors of bathing facilities and their heating systems from Christian Rome to the Islamic world and even to the present day. This system, which is also observed by visitors, raises one of the most frequently asked questions: Where did they learn this? In these baths, there is a space (hypocaust) about 80-90 centimeters high under the walking surface. Additionally, there are heating systems from the walls of these hot spaces. The hot gases from the fuel burning in the furnace circulate under the floor and then heat the walls of the space before exiting through the chimney," he said. He also expressed that these systems have just been uncovered and that they will reveal interconnected spaces with different temperatures, cold and pool rooms, and changing areas close to the entrance in the coming periods.
Emphasizing that they have discovered an underfloor heating system in the bath and that they will clearly solve the working system in the ongoing excavations, Prof. Dr. Kaplan said, "Now we are working in hot spaces. That is, we are in the Caldarium space, which is hot enough to burn your feet when you step in, and there is an underfloor heating system here. For now, we are still at this point in the work; we are removing the fill, and it has started to gradually come to light. In the coming weeks, I believe all the heating systems will be revealed. We will be able to see more clearly how the bath operated and the purpose of the baths in the sacred area," he said.
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