The 2,300-year-old torture chamber: Ancient dungeon containing a 'bloody well and death rooms' unearthed in Turkey

Archaeologists discovered 2,300-year-old dungeons in Bursa, Turkey

The dungeons were found to contain a bloody well and torture chambers

Deaf and mute hangmen would have thrown prisoner’s heads into the well

The bodies would then have been passed to the prisoner’s relatives

Chambers found during excavations set to become an open-air museum



For more than two centuries, a dark and sinister secret has laid buried deep within the walls of the ancient Bithynian kingdom.

Archaeologists excavating the 2,300-year-old remains of the region in modern-day Bursa, Turkey have uncovered a series of dungeons and tunnels that would have been used to lead prisoners to their death.

Inside these dungeons, the researchers also found torture chambers, death pits and even a well covered in what appears to be blood.



Archaeologists excavating city walls of the 2,300-year-old region of Bithynia in modern-day Bursa, Turkey, have uncovered a series of dungeons and tunnels. Stock image of Bursa walls pictured. Inside these dungeons, the researchers found torture chambers, death pits and even a well covered in what appears to be blood

TORTURE IN THE BITHYNIA KINGDOM

Bithynia was an ancient kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor between 297 and 274BC.

The dungeons were found during restoration of the Zindan Kapi part of the wall, in the Alacahirka region of modern-day Bursa.

These dungeons were connected to towers where prisoners would have been kept.

Hangmen of the time, who were deaf and mute, would have cut off the heads of the prisoners and thrown them into the well, while remaining body parts were given to the prisoner’s relatives. The hangmen were also known to have sold the dead bodies back to the families for a price.



The discovery was made by İbrahim Yılmaz, from the Uludağ University Faculty of Science and Literature History of Art Department.

He was part of an excavation team set up as part of a wider project to reveal the old city walls of the region now known as Bursa, in the northwest of Turkey.

The walls stretch for 3.4km around the city and the Bursa Municipality is funding the restoration of the centuries-old foundations.

It was during restoration of the Zindan Kapi part of the wall, in the Alacahirka region, that Yilmaz made the gruesome discovery.

The dungeons were found buried beneath the foundations of houses where people were living at the time, but have since been demolished.



Yimiz told Hurriyet Daily News that the Bursa dungeons of that time were underground structures known as ‘stucco’.

These dungeons were connected to towers where prisoners would have been kept.



Bithynia was an ancient kingdom in the northwest of Turkey now known as Bursa, pictured. Archaeologists and the Bursa Municipality plan to turn the dungeons and corridors into an open-air museum in the region by 2016

Hangmen of the time, who were deaf and mute, would have cut off the heads of the prisoners and thrown them into the well, while remaining body parts were given to the prisoner’s relatives.

Yilmiz added that the hangmen were also known to have sold the dead bodies back to the families.



Archaeologists and the Bursa Muncipality plan to turn the dungeons and corridors into an open-air museum. Yimiz said torture tools will also be put on display, and the museum is expected to be ready by 2016.

Excavations are ongoing and Yimiz and his team have not released images of the well, or dungeons.