Excavation work in the ancient city of Heraion-Teikhos (City of Hera) in Tekirdağ, northwestern Türkiye, has been revealing traces of the Thracians since 2000.
The excavations have uncovered statues of the Great Mother and a health god, a tumulus (a mound of earth or stones raised over a grave), a medicine oven and various coins.
In the excavation house located in Karaevli neighborhood, the drawings, restoration and evaluation of the artifacts extracted from the site are ongoing.
This year, clay figurines of the Great Mother have been found during the excavation work in the ancient city.
Professor Neşe Atik, dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at Istanbul Rumeli University, coordinator of the Archaeological Research Office and excavation head, stated to Anadolu Agency (AA) that the Thracians represent an important civilization in the history of world culture.
Atik noted that the Thracians had a great kingdom in the fourth century B.C., encompassing a vast area, including Thrace, parts of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Greece and Romania. "It was a massive kingdom," she said.
She stated that all known information about the Thracians was written by authors from other civilizations. "The Thracians lived in great wealth. Incredible silver and gold vessels have survived from them, but there are no written sources. The Hellenes, who admired and were sometimes enemies of the Thracians, wrote about them," she said.
"Later, Roman and Byzantine authors also narrated the lives of the Thracians. We understand that they were a patriarchal society and a people living on horseback, they were proud and lived through conquests, possessing unique religious practices," she added.
Atik explained that they began the excavations from the acropolis, the highest part of the city, emphasizing the importance of finding the sacred areas of the Great Mother and the health god.
She conveyed that the Thracians believed in immortality: "We know that the Thracian aristocrats were close to the king, they believed in the Great Mother and thought that she symbolically married the Thracian king, granting him immortality."
"The king could distribute immortality like the Great Mother, that's why aristocrats remain close to him to attain immortality. There are human sacrifices where a Thracian volunteers and stands still, and three Thracian spears are thrown at him, if he doesn't die, he is considered to have an evil spirit; if he dies, he attains immortality. It is an interesting society with various beliefs, it becomes a novelty when we reveal what we know from written sources through excavations," she said.
Atik highlighted the practice of widow sacrifice in Thracian religious beliefs: "Thracian nobles have between four to 30 wives, when a man dies, a chosen wife is sacrificed, all relatives and the people gather. The woman is sacrificed by cutting her throat at the man's grave, nobody is saddened by this; it is considered a source of pride for everyone because the sacrificed woman is believed to attain immortality."
Atik noted that they found a medicine-making basin, bronze and clay containers for storing medicines, and bone measuring spoons for medicine during the excavation work.
She stated that they consider the Thracians an important kingdom for their contributions to health: "We have found ancient medicine-making basins in the excavation area that have not been found elsewhere, water reaches up to the ankles in these basins and flows back and forth. There, spiny sea snail shells are separated, the meat is used as another medicine, and the shells are melted in the oven nearby."