ROMAN NECROPOLİS
Archaeological remains in Mokisos include a great number of mausolea (monumental tombs) associated with a Roman era necropolis. This pagan necropolis can be ascribed to the period preceding the foundation of the Eastern Roman town in the 6th century. Roman sepulchers, 50 of which have been identified up today, are mainly located on the eastern and northern slopes of the eastern hill and atop of this latter, on the southern portion of the main valley and on the acropolis hill. The necropolis must have been linked to an unknown town nearby which may be localized under the present day Helvadere or slightly to the west of it. With a few exceptions, Roman era graves are built of large local stone blocks covered with a tiny artificial mound to form a tumulus. The tomb chamber itself remained relatively simple, usually rectangular in plan and vaulted, with a U-shaped bench for laying out the deceased. Access is sometimes gained by a short entrance-passage (dromos), or reduced to a portal-like niche.
It is difficult to understand the full process of transformation and re-use of the Roman tombs during the building activity of the 6th century Byzantine city, we may assume they were already looted at this time. Although the current state of preservation of these Roman mausolea does not always allow to understand how exactly they were used in the Byzantine era, most of them remained untouched and probably served as storage rooms, but some were dismantled and their stones were used as building material: in several cases only the remains of the foundations indicate earlier existence of the pagan sepulchers.
Some of these Roman mausolea may have been transformed and used as Christian burials within the city. At the time when Mokisos was rebuilt by Justinian, the spread of Christian burials over a residential area within the urban space was prohibited. Therefore, assuming simultaneous use of these Christian tombs, converted from their pagan predecessors, and 6th century houses, is impossible. At that time, however, the ban was gradually lifted especially in relation with ecclesiastical context and Christian mausolea attached to church structures within urban areas became frequent. The vaulted structure behind Kemerli Kilise witnesses the continuation of this commemorative building tradition yet in the 6th cent. It is difficult to assume when the construction of independent or ecclesiastical mausolea in Byzantine Asia Minor ceased.