Tile workshop found in 2000-year-old Roman theater in İznik

Archaeologists in Turkey have found for the first time a tile workshop dating back to the Early Ottoman period, during excavations at the 2,000-year-old ancient Roman theater in northwestern Turkey.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aygün Ekin Meriç, the head of the excavation and an assistant professor of archaeology at Izmir-based Dokuz Eylül University, said the structure in the Iznik district of Bursa province is one of the rare theaters built on a flat area during the Roman period and raised with vaults.

Highlighting that they found 10 tile kilns during the excavations, Meriç said: "We made a very important discovery during our last excavation."

"We found a tile workshop dating from the 14th to 15th centuries inside the vault in good shape that carries the sitting steps," she explained.

"This workshop is very important. We have a very beautiful oven, well preserved. Because of the burns that occurred as a result of use, we can assume that this oven has been in use for a long time," she noted.

"There used to be an oven or quartz section, but here we found this used workshop without any deterioration. Even the clay floor was preserved," she said and added, "We have completely preserved it and incorporated it into the restoration project to showcase it."

Roman theater with capacity of 10,000 people

Noting that the three-floor theater was built in the 2nd century during the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan with a capacity of approximately 10,000 people, Meriç said that it has a very ostentatious vaulted infrastructure.

"Gladiator games, famous games of the period were played here, especially in the 2nd and 3rd centuries," she said.

"Later, the theater changed its function, especially after the...