View of the three apses of a possible church northwest of the Heroon; the building is one of the only examples of mortared rubble masonry documented so far at the site

In his early 20^th-century investigation of Notion, Macridy recorded a three-aisled basilica at a location about 500 m northwest of the city wall. The basilica apparently had at least two phases, Early Christian and Middle Byzantine. Although we have been unable to identify this structure, in 2014 local residents informed us that ruins known as “kilise” (“church”) had been located on a flat terrace approximately 500 m north of the walls that border the cavea of the Theater, but were destroyed in 1985 during road construction. In 2014 we identified the remains of what appears to have been a church at the north edge of the western portion of the city about 50 m northwest of the Heroon. Three apses at the northern end are visible, while the rest of the structure is obscured by rubble and brush. The dating and architectural analysis of the building will be clarified only with further excavation, but it is notable that the building is one of the only places where mortared rubble masonry has been documented at the site. We also identified two additional apsidal structures inside the city walls. The first is located approximately 20 m from the southeast corner of the main Agora. Only the south wing is visible, with a 5-m wide apse to its west. The second apsidal structure is located in the saddle between the main and east Agoras. It has a south-facing apse with an internal diameter of 11 m. The east and west walls can be traced for about 8 m. In aerial photographs the structure appears as a three-aisled basilica. Geophysical prospection may clarify its plan. The function of these structures remains unknown at this point, but they are likely churches. Despite the lack of visible late antique and Byzantine pottery at the surface, the two confirmed churches suggest that settlement continued at Notion during the early Christian and Byzantine periods. Given the considerable distance between them, the two churches may represent two separate settlements. However, if the two other apsidal buildings are indeed churches or some other structures of the post-Roman period, post-antique settlement at Notion may have been more extensive. Future work will test these hypotheses. Research on churches and the late-antique history of Notion is overseen by Örgü Dalgıç.