CRITICAL ASSESMENT ON GRAVE TYPES AND BURIAL CUSTOMS IN CLASSICAL PERIOD OF PARION SOUTHERN-TAVŞANDERE NECROPOLIS

The materials of the study is 11 Classical period graves, grave goods, funeral gifts and scattered findings from the Southern-Tavşandere Necropolis of the Parion located at the entrance of the village Kemer, Biga, Çanakkale. Through these finds, the focus is on burial customs, beliefs and socio-cultural life in Parion of the Classical period. Although there are many publications on the Hellenistic and Roman periods of the Ancient City, where the data density is high, there is no publication on the Classical period, where there is limited data in terms of archaeological material. This publication aims to close this gap with the Classic period finds from the Parion Southern-Tavşandere Necropolis, the only place in the city where data from these periods are concentrated. In situ Classical period graves are few in number, as they are located in a layer that has not been completely uncovered and have been destroyed by Hellenistic period graves. The graves are divided into types and burial customs are explained. As a result of the researches, it was determined that 6 grave types were preferred. These types are sarcophagus, wooden coffin, tile, amphora and urn graves. Simple earth graves are mostly preferred. The graves were dated according to burial context and similar finds. Thus, the usage phases of the Necropolis in the Classical period were determined. In the early Classical period, vertebrate sarcophagi seen in the late Archaic period (510-490 BC) are still in use. Until last 10 years of the 6th century to beginning of the 5th century BC, only inhumation burial customs were applied. In the light of two urns, it can be said that the cremation burial custom was first applied in the first quarter of the 5th century BC. After a long break, it was applied for the second time in the third quarter of the 4th century BC. In addition, the sarcophagus (L 2), which is an important finding both in terms of unique architecture characterictics (vertebrate lid) and grave goods (wooden stretcher, shroud-like remains of white fabric on which the dead was wrapped, bronze needles used to fasten the fabric on the shoulder) should be related to ekphoraThis proves that these ceremonies in visual and written sources also exist archaeologically. The two ridges on the lid of the sarcophagus are the first and only one for Anatolia for now. The similarity of ritual and materials proves the Greek influence in the post-Greek colonization period. It has been determined that this feature of the sarcophagus appeared in nearby ancient cities with another version in the following years. The Parion sarcophagi were the influencing party and prototype in this regard. In the study, 3D modelling on the grave tile and statistical analyzes on the sarcophagus were made