A carefully constructed medieval grave containing two premature infants, possibly twins, has been identified inside an abandoned Roman latrine at Ephesos in western Türkiye. Researchers believe the unusual location was chosen to protect the burial rather than to dispose of the remains.
The grave was discovered in 2010 during excavations of the Odeion in the Artemision, the sacred precinct surrounding the Temple of Artemis. A new bioarchaeological examination has now revealed more about the two infants, their burial and the treatment of perinatal death in the eight or ninth century.
The findings are presented by Caroline Partiot and Lilli Zabrana of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in the journal Childhood in the Past.
Ephesos was one of the most important cities of the ancient Mediterranean and served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Its Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
About 175 metres south-west of the temple stood an Odeion, a building used for musical, dramatic and poetic performances. Constructed during the second half of the first century AD, it measured approximately 40 by 24 metres and included nine barrel-vaulted rooms beneath its main structure.
During renovations in the late second or early third century, one of these rooms was converted into a public latrine with around 30 seats. The latrine could not be entered from the Odeion’s auditorium and was probably installed to provide toilets for visitors to the sanctuary.
The building was abandoned following a fire and the collapse of its roof during the fifth or sixth century. Its marble decoration was subsequently removed, while parts of the structure were temporarily used for dumping animal bones and broken pottery. By the time the grave was created, however, the latrine had been out of use for several centuries.
The burial was placed inside its former drainage channel. It consisted of a small cist, or box grave, constructed from reused roof tiles, bricks and stone slabs. Measuring only 67 by 42 centimetres, it contained the remains of two infants laid side by side.
Radiocarbon testing produced a date range of AD 692–887, with a 75 per cent probability that the burial occurred between AD 762 and 887. This places it within the early Middle Byzantine period, centuries after the Odeion had been abandoned.
“The dating to the Early Middle Ages, which was established using the radiocarbon method, confirms that the Artemision was accessible at that time – that is, before floods in the 13th/14th centuries buried the entire sacred precinct under 6 to 8 metres of river sediment,” Zabrana explains.
A detailed examination carried out in 2025 found that the two infants were almost the same size. One was approximately 44 centimetres long and died at an estimated 34 weeks of gestation. The other measured around 43 centimetres and had reached approximately 33 weeks.
Both therefore died several weeks before a full-term pregnancy. The available evidence cannot establish whether they died before birth or survived for a short period afterwards. The researchers consequently describe them as perinates, a term covering the period shortly before, during and immediately after birth.
Their almost identical developmental ages, shared grave and simultaneous burial suggest that they may have been twins. A slight difference in size does not rule this out, since twins can develop at different rates. Genetic testing was not carried out, however, meaning that their relationship remains a hypothesis.
One infant also had a supernumerary cervical rib, an additional rib growing from the neck vertebrae. Although this variation is usually harmless in adults, its presence in an infant can be associated with developmental conditions, premature birth and a reduced chance of survival.
The bone measured only five millimetres, making its survival and recovery particularly unusual. According to the researchers, this is only the second published archaeological case of an additional cervical rib being identified in a perinatal individual.
No other signs of injury or disease were detected. However, many potentially serious conditions affect soft tissue and would leave no trace on the bones.
A carefully arranged Christian burial
Although its location was highly unusual, the grave itself followed established Byzantine Christian burial customs. The infants were placed on their backs with their heads towards the west, meaning that their bodies faced east. This orientation reflected the Christian belief that the dead would face Christ when he returned from the east at the Second Coming.
The use of a stone-lined cist, the position of the bodies and the general absence of grave goods also resemble burials found in Byzantine cemeteries elsewhere in Ephesos and Asia Minor.
Traces left by the decomposition process indicate that the infants may have been wrapped in one or two shrouds. An iron object found close to their heads may have been a pin used to secure the fabric. The soil at the bottom of the grave also differed from the sediment inside the former latrine channel, suggesting that earth had deliberately been brought from elsewhere to prepare the burial.
Water appears to have entered the grave during decomposition, moving some of the bones from their original positions. Despite this disturbance, the grave remained intact and protected for more than a thousand years.
“In earlier societies, the burial site of very young children was often different from that of adults because their social status was different. Their graves are therefore frequently found in places not originally intended for burial, such as under house floors or in wells,” Partiot explains.
The researchers note that perinatal burials have been found in the Middle Byzantine cemetery surrounding the Church of Mary at Ephesos. The Odeion grave, however, is the only known isolated burial of infants of this age from the city.
Protection rather than disposal
Large groups of infant remains have previously been discovered inside ancient sewers and wells. Nearly 100 perinatal individuals were found in a sewer at Ashkelon in Israel, while a well in the Athenian Agora contained the remains of hundreds of infants. These assemblages have been interpreted as possible evidence of infanticide or the disposal of unwanted children.
The circumstances at Ephesos are markedly different. The two infants were not discarded among rubbish but placed together inside a purpose-built grave. Their bodies were carefully positioned, probably wrapped, and protected by tiles, bricks and stones.
“In the Odeion, however, it is remarkable that, in a place that might otherwise symbolise exclusion, a grave was created with all the characteristics of a regular adult burial,” says Patriot. “This suggests special care on the part of the relatives and that the child’s death had touched the community.”
The location may have been chosen partly because the surviving latrine channel offered physical protection. Although the Odeion no longer served a religious function, it also remained within the former sacred precinct of Artemis. The researchers suggest that this position may have retained some protective significance for the local community.
Baptism could have affected where the infants were allowed to be buried. Byzantine baptism was often performed after a 40-day period associated with the mother’s purification, although emergency baptisms could take place shortly after birth. If the two infants died before they could be baptised, they may have been excluded from consecrated cemetery ground.
The authors caution that surviving evidence is insufficient to determine whether baptism influenced this particular burial. Nevertheless, the grave may represent a practical compromise: it stood outside a formal cemetery but was carefully constructed according to recognisable Christian customs and placed within a former sacred precinct.
Rather than indicating rejection, the burial reveals the effort made to acknowledge and protect two exceptionally short lives. Its unusual setting highlights how medieval families and communities could adapt established funerary traditions when confronting the uncertain religious and social status of infants who died around the time of birth.
The article, “Peace in Unexpected Places: The Middle Byzantine Burial of Two Perinates, Possibly Twins, in a Latrine Canal of the Odeion in the Artemision of Ephesos,” by Caroline Partiot and Lilli Zabrana, is published in Childhood in the Past. Click here to read it.
😀Pleased to share our article "Peace in Unexpected Places: The Middle #Byzantine Burial of Two Perinates, Possibly Twins, in a Latrine Canal of the Odeion in the Artemision of #Ephesos" with @lillizabrana.bsky.social #ChildhoodinthePast @sscipchildhood.bsky.social
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A carefully constructed medieval grave containing two premature infants, possibly twins, has been identified inside an abandoned Roman latrine at Ephesos in western Türkiye. Researchers believe the unusual location was chosen to protect the burial rather than to dispose of the remains.
The grave was discovered in 2010 during excavations of the Odeion in the Artemision, the sacred precinct surrounding the Temple of Artemis. A new bioarchaeological examination has now revealed more about the two infants, their burial and the treatment of perinatal death in the eight or ninth century.
The findings are presented by Caroline Partiot and Lilli Zabrana of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in the journal Childhood in the Past.
A medieval grave inside a Roman building
Ephesos was one of the most important cities of the ancient Mediterranean and served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Its Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
About 175 metres south-west of the temple stood an Odeion, a building used for musical, dramatic and poetic performances. Constructed during the second half of the first century AD, it measured approximately 40 by 24 metres and included nine barrel-vaulted rooms beneath its main structure.
During renovations in the late second or early third century, one of these rooms was converted into a public latrine with around 30 seats. The latrine could not be entered from the Odeion’s auditorium and was probably installed to provide toilets for visitors to the sanctuary.
The building was abandoned following a fire and the collapse of its roof during the fifth or sixth century. Its marble decoration was subsequently removed, while parts of the structure were temporarily used for dumping animal bones and broken pottery. By the time the grave was created, however, the latrine had been out of use for several centuries.
The burial was placed inside its former drainage channel. It consisted of a small cist, or box grave, constructed from reused roof tiles, bricks and stone slabs. Measuring only 67 by 42 centimetres, it contained the remains of two infants laid side by side.
Radiocarbon testing produced a date range of AD 692–887, with a 75 per cent probability that the burial occurred between AD 762 and 887. This places it within the early Middle Byzantine period, centuries after the Odeion had been abandoned.
“The dating to the Early Middle Ages, which was established using the radiocarbon method, confirms that the Artemision was accessible at that time – that is, before floods in the 13th/14th centuries buried the entire sacred precinct under 6 to 8 metres of river sediment,” Zabrana explains.
Were the infants twins?
A detailed examination carried out in 2025 found that the two infants were almost the same size. One was approximately 44 centimetres long and died at an estimated 34 weeks of gestation. The other measured around 43 centimetres and had reached approximately 33 weeks.
Both therefore died several weeks before a full-term pregnancy. The available evidence cannot establish whether they died before birth or survived for a short period afterwards. The researchers consequently describe them as perinates, a term covering the period shortly before, during and immediately after birth.
Their almost identical developmental ages, shared grave and simultaneous burial suggest that they may have been twins. A slight difference in size does not rule this out, since twins can develop at different rates. Genetic testing was not carried out, however, meaning that their relationship remains a hypothesis.
One infant also had a supernumerary cervical rib, an additional rib growing from the neck vertebrae. Although this variation is usually harmless in adults, its presence in an infant can be associated with developmental conditions, premature birth and a reduced chance of survival.
The bone measured only five millimetres, making its survival and recovery particularly unusual. According to the researchers, this is only the second published archaeological case of an additional cervical rib being identified in a perinatal individual.
No other signs of injury or disease were detected. However, many potentially serious conditions affect soft tissue and would leave no trace on the bones.
A carefully arranged Christian burial
Although its location was highly unusual, the grave itself followed established Byzantine Christian burial customs. The infants were placed on their backs with their heads towards the west, meaning that their bodies faced east. This orientation reflected the Christian belief that the dead would face Christ when he returned from the east at the Second Coming.
The use of a stone-lined cist, the position of the bodies and the general absence of grave goods also resemble burials found in Byzantine cemeteries elsewhere in Ephesos and Asia Minor.
Traces left by the decomposition process indicate that the infants may have been wrapped in one or two shrouds. An iron object found close to their heads may have been a pin used to secure the fabric. The soil at the bottom of the grave also differed from the sediment inside the former latrine channel, suggesting that earth had deliberately been brought from elsewhere to prepare the burial.
Water appears to have entered the grave during decomposition, moving some of the bones from their original positions. Despite this disturbance, the grave remained intact and protected for more than a thousand years.
“In earlier societies, the burial site of very young children was often different from that of adults because their social status was different. Their graves are therefore frequently found in places not originally intended for burial, such as under house floors or in wells,” Partiot explains.
The researchers note that perinatal burials have been found in the Middle Byzantine cemetery surrounding the Church of Mary at Ephesos. The Odeion grave, however, is the only known isolated burial of infants of this age from the city.
Protection rather than disposal
Large groups of infant remains have previously been discovered inside ancient sewers and wells. Nearly 100 perinatal individuals were found in a sewer at Ashkelon in Israel, while a well in the Athenian Agora contained the remains of hundreds of infants. These assemblages have been interpreted as possible evidence of infanticide or the disposal of unwanted children.
The circumstances at Ephesos are markedly different. The two infants were not discarded among rubbish but placed together inside a purpose-built grave. Their bodies were carefully positioned, probably wrapped, and protected by tiles, bricks and stones.
“In the Odeion, however, it is remarkable that, in a place that might otherwise symbolise exclusion, a grave was created with all the characteristics of a regular adult burial,” says Patriot. “This suggests special care on the part of the relatives and that the child’s death had touched the community.”
The location may have been chosen partly because the surviving latrine channel offered physical protection. Although the Odeion no longer served a religious function, it also remained within the former sacred precinct of Artemis. The researchers suggest that this position may have retained some protective significance for the local community.
Baptism could have affected where the infants were allowed to be buried. Byzantine baptism was often performed after a 40-day period associated with the mother’s purification, although emergency baptisms could take place shortly after birth. If the two infants died before they could be baptised, they may have been excluded from consecrated cemetery ground.
The authors caution that surviving evidence is insufficient to determine whether baptism influenced this particular burial. Nevertheless, the grave may represent a practical compromise: it stood outside a formal cemetery but was carefully constructed according to recognisable Christian customs and placed within a former sacred precinct.
Rather than indicating rejection, the burial reveals the effort made to acknowledge and protect two exceptionally short lives. Its unusual setting highlights how medieval families and communities could adapt established funerary traditions when confronting the uncertain religious and social status of infants who died around the time of birth.
The article, “Peace in Unexpected Places: The Middle Byzantine Burial of Two Perinates, Possibly Twins, in a Latrine Canal of the Odeion in the Artemision of Ephesos,” by Caroline Partiot and Lilli Zabrana, is published in Childhood in the Past. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Zenithal view of the grave after opening; scale: 10 cm (© OeAW-OeAI/L. Zabrana)
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