Editing Colossae (section)

===Modern study and archeology===
{{expand section | with SOURCED material relevant to the history of its mapping and historical and literary discussion (see further reading), and on plans for its excavation | small = no|date=February 2016}}
Most archeological attention has been focused on nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis.<ref name="autogenerated48">Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' [[Biblical Archaeology Review]], March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 48.</ref> Excavations of Colossae began in 2021 led by Bariş Yener of Pammukale University in Denizli.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Borges |first=Jason |date=2022-09-06 |title=Excavations at Colossae |url=https://www.biblicalturkey.org/post/excavations-at-colossae |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Biblical Turkey |language=en}}</ref> The first several years involve surface surveys to analyze pottery and survey the landscape. They hope to start digging in 2023–24.

The site exhibits a biconical [[acropolis]] almost {{convert|100|ft|m}} high, and encompasses an area of almost {{convert|22|acre}}. On the eastern slope there sits a theater which probably seated around 5,000 people, suggesting a total population of 25,000–30,000 people. The theater was probably built during the Roman period, and may be near an agora that abuts the ''[[cardo maximus]]'', or the city's main north–south road. Ceramic finds around the theater confirm the city's early occupation in the third and second millennia BC. Northeast of the [[tell (archaeology)|tell]], and most likely outside the city walls, a [[necropolis]] displays [[Hellenistic]] tombs with two main styles of burial: one with an antecedent room connected to an inner chamber, and [[tumulus|tumuli]], or underground chambers accessed by stairs leading to the entrance. Outside the tell, there are also remains of sections of columns that may have marked a processional way, or the ''cardo''. Today, the remains of one column marks the location where locals believe a church once stood, possibly that of St. Michael.<ref name="autogenerated48" /> Near the Lycus River, there is evidence that water channels had been cut out of the rock with a complex of pipes and sluice gates to divert water for bathing and for agricultural and industrial purposes.<ref>Trainor, Michael, ''Colossae - Colossal In Name Only?'' [[Biblical Archaeology Review]], March/April 2019, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 49.</ref>