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PHOTO COURTESY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN

SUNKEN SAINTS. Multiple burials were discovered in and around the basilica, half a dozen of them within the original shrine under the basilica’s apse. Burials near the graves of martyrs were common well into the Middle Ages, reflecting the belief that the deceased might benefit from their posthumous proximity to a saint. Much simpler than the sarcophagus of Neophytos, the burials consist of terracotta roofing tiles arranged like a gable roof around the coffin, with another tile closing the tomb at the head and one more at the foot. The seams may have been sealed with wax or clay.