Öniz, Hakan : Underwater Archaeology in Türkiye

Hakan Öniz (eds.),
Underwater archaeology in Türkiye
(Turkish Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Institute publications, 019)

Istanbul 2022

ISBN 978-625-7922-42-5


240 S./pp., zahlr. Farbabb./num. colour-figs., 27 x 20 cm; kartoniert/hardcover

With its 8500 kilometers of coastline stretching from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, Turkey constitutes one of the most important geographies in the history of civilization. The maritime phenomenon was discovered tens of thousands of years ago on these coasts, where people have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. Paleolithic remains found in Karain and Beldibi Caves in Antalya and Keldağ-Üçağızlı Caves in Hatay suggest that people who went to Crete and Cyprus, were from Anatolia, the closest coast. More than a thousand obsidian tools of Nevşehir origin, dating back at least ten thousand years, were found in the Northern Cyprus Tatlısu-Çiftlikdüzü excavations. People provided the transportation between the islands and the mainland with primitive sea vehicles. The most concrete example of this type of vehicle emerged in Anatolia, and wooden canoe paddles dated 8000 years ago were found in Istanbul Yenikapı. It is not surprising that the world’s oldest ships are found in such a geography. In Antalya, the Gelidonya Shipwreck dated to 1200 BCE was found in 1960, the Kaş-Uluburun shipwreck dated to the 14th century BCE in 1984, and the Kumluca shipwreck, which dates back to 16-15th BCE centuries in 2018. Both the shores of these seas and lakes & streams have witnessed the existence of many known and unknown cultures and their relations with each other for a long time.

The seas separating Asia, Europe, and Africa simultaneously connected these continents through maritime means. Today, investigating these unknowns under the water is carried out within the framework of the discipline of Underwater Archaeology. Turkey is among the leading countries in the world both in the academic field and in the framework of underwater excavations and researches. This book has been prepared in order to put all the major studies done in Turkey on the map.