Asia Minor Research Centre uncovers city archives in Doliche

Over 2,000 seal impressions discovered provide vivid insights into city administration in Roman Antiquity. Two impressions of official seals of the city of Doliche© Asia Minor Research Centre Archaeologists from the Asia Minor Research Centre have uncovered the city archives in the ancient city of Doliche in south-eastern Türkiye and recovered more than 2,000 seal impressions used to seal documents. In doing so, the team led by Prof. Michael Blömer and Prof. Engelbert Winter from the University of Münster made an important discovery: although archives for storing contracts, for example, existed in every city, only a handful of archive buildings from the Roman Empire have been identified to date. The well-preserved seal impressions and their motifs provide information about administrative practice in ancient times. The impressions consist of stamped lumps of clay ranging in size from around five millimetres to two centimetres. They were used to seal documents made of papyrus and parchment. "The images on the official city seals are directly related to the city.