The Purpose and Age of Underwater Walls in the Bay of Elaia of Western Turkey: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Abstract

Pergamum (modern: Bergama) was operating an important harbour used by military forces and merchants at the city of Elaia during Hellenistic and Roman Imperial times. Harbour‐related facilities such as warehouses, breakwaters and wharfs document the importance of this harbour site not only for the Pergamenians. This paper focuses on the purpose and age of six submerged wall structures situated approximately 1 km south of the ancient closed harbour basin of Elaia. Geoelectric cross‐sections and semi‐aquatic coring near these walls failed to detect any solid basement under the walls which excludes their possible use as breakwaters or wharfs. Instead, the walls were most likely delineating and separating evaporation ponds of salt works, which compares well with similar structures from other periods and places around the Mediterranean. Combined OSL and 14C‐dating determined the construction age of the installation between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D. Subsequent (re‐)uses are likely and are in agreement with findings from archaeological surveys.

The environs of Elaia's ancient open harbour – a reconstruction based on microfaunal evidence

“…Own DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) surveys (Leica GPS System 530) in 2010 and 2011 revealed a mean tidal range of about 20 cm. Although wind surges may increase sea level during the winter season this measurement is in good accordance with other sites in the eastern Aegean Sea (Flemming, 1978;Anzidei et al, 2011;Brückner et al, 2013;Seeliger et al, 2012Seeliger et al, , 2013Seeliger et al, , 2014.…”

“…Several archaeological sites testify still ongoing subsidence of the graben system, namely (i) a partly drowned Roman thermal bath complex situated on the Kane Peninsula, and (ii) the sunken harbour breakwaters and drowned underwater wall structures in the Bay of Elaia (Figs. 1a and 2; Seeliger et al, 2012Seeliger et al, , 2013Seeliger et al, , 2014. Own investigations concerning the transgressive contact in the closed harbour of Elaia and the study of archaeological sea level markers resulted in an estimated subsidence rate of the graben ensemble of far less than 1 m per 1000 years in contrast to Aksu et al, 1987).…”

“…Archaeological, geophysical and geoarchaeological fieldwork at Elaia started in 2006 (Pirson, , 2008a(Pirson, , 2011Brückner et al, 2013;Seeliger et al, 2012Seeliger et al, , 2013Seeliger et al, , 2014Pint et al, 2013). While most of the archaeological structures and facilities of Elaia's harbour such as the closed harbour basin and a submerged Late Roman saline have already been described and dated (Pirson, , 2008aSeeliger et al, 2012Seeliger et al, , 2013Seeliger et al, , 2014Pint et al, 2013), the hypothesis about the Hellenistic ship sheds of Elaia has not been proved so far. These structures, visible only in the geomagnetic and geoelectric measurements, are located immediately to the east of the closed harbour basin.…”

“…Others describe special harbour or economy facilities like fish tanks and ship sheds in relation to the palaeo-sea level in detail. Antonioli et al (2007) and Auriemma and Solinas (2009) provide a general overview how archaeological remains may be correlated and interpreted in relation to palaeo-sea level on the basis of different sites along the Mediterranean coast (see also Seeliger et al, 2013Seeliger et al, , 2014.…”

The drowning of ancient Limyra (southwestern Turkey) by rising groundwater during Late Antiquity to Byzantine times

“…Akyüz and Altunel, 2001;Karabacak, 2011;Karabacak et al, 2013;Öz-daş and Kızıldağ, 2013;Passchier et al, 2013). Geomorphological studies additionally constrained the interaction of humans and landscape (Kraft et al, 2007(Kraft et al, , 2011Brückner et al, 2013;Stock et al, 2013Stock et al, , 2014Seeliger et al, 2014;Delile et al, 2015). Geoarchaeological work therefore contributes to a better understanding of ancient life in southwestern Asia Minor.…”