Twins Buried in Ancient Latrine Reveal Changing Burial Practices in Ephesus

Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have analyzed a unique burial in ancient Ephesus (modern-day Turkey), where twin infants were interred in a decommissioned Roman sewer channel within the Odeon of the Artemision temple precinct. The grave, discovered in 2010, dates to the 8th or 9th century AD, centuries after the Roman structure was abandoned. The children died at approximately 33-34 weeks of pregnancy, and their nearly identical size and shared burial suggest they were twins. Researchers note that the placement in a sewer channel, while unusual by modern standards, reflects a Christian-Byzantine practice of caring for infants, who were often buried in non-traditional locations like under house floors or in wells. The study highlights the transition from Roman to Byzantine periods and the special status of newborns in past societies, whose lives were fragile and threatened. The findings were published in the journal 'Childhood in the Past'.