Projects: Geographical Overview
Paleogeography of the Ephesia, the region around Ephesos
Drilling at the northern ridge of Çukuriçi Höyük. The drillings revealed that the cultural levels date back to the Neolithic period (ca. 6500 B.C.)
Geoarchaeological probes of the first settlement levels of Çukuriçi Höyük. Drillings prove a first occupation in ca. 6500 B.C.
Looking for the Sacred Harbour at the Artemision: drilling between the Artemision and the Ayasoluk-Hill
Former coastline in the area of the Artemision. The area to the south of the temple appears to have been suitable for a Sacred Harbour
Drilling around and in the Roman harbour channel
Drilling around and in the Roman harbour channel
To see more pictures, please click on one of the images shown here.
Paelogeographical Development of the Ephesia
Project Goals and Content
In the course of archaeological research at the ancient metropolis of Ephesos, the reconstruction of the paleogeography and the history of the environment in space and time are extremely important for the understanding of this prominent harbour- and trade-city as well as the settlements which preceded it.
Over the course of previous millennia, the Ephesia – the region around Ephesos – experienced far-reaching paleogeographical and paleo-ecological transformations. Up until the Chalcolithic period, the sea encroached far inland, so that the gulf of Ephesos was formed in the lower drainage area of the Küçük Menderes. Since that time, the continuous sedimentation of the Küçük Menderes (in antiquity: Kaystros) and its nearby rivers Derbent/Marnas and Selinus, created deltas, by means of which the former bay of the sea was completely silted up with the exception of small bodies of water on the north flank of the drainage area.
The creation of deltas, a process which was drastically accelerated by human intervention in the Hellenistic period and above all in the Roman period, greatly influenced the location of Ephesos and its significance as an important port- and trade-metropolis in the centuries around the birth of Christ and thereafter. The translocation of the coastline towards the west ultimately played a role in the gradual decline of the city in the post-Roman period.
Methods
The study of paleogeography in the region around Ephesos is generally concerned with the investigation of geo-bioarchives in an archaeological context. This interdisciplinary field of research, which is also termed Geoarchaeology, unites content, methods, and perspectives from natural sciences and humane disciplines.
In the case of Ephesos and the Ephesia, we are concerned with geo-bioarchives, as for example the delta and the river flood plains of the Küçük Menderes, colluviums and (silted up) lakes, from which the history of the landscape since the Neolithic period can be interpreted (Çukuriçi Höyük). In order to obtain sediments, pile driver core probes using drilling machines were tried out. All of the available information from maps, aerial photography and satellite images, finds from archaeological excavations and historical sources was exploited. In addition to sediment analysis and geochemical analysis, paleo-ecological investigations of the flora and fauna count amongst the laboratory methods. The chronological classification is based on the 14C-dating of fruits, seeds, wood, charcoal, and mussel shells, as well as on stratigraphy by means of diagnostic pottery.
Focal Points and Results
In the current research project, the following detailed studies are emphasised:
- Geoarchaeological investigations at Çukuriçi Höyük
These investigations were able to prove for the first time that the settlement of this hill located south-east of Ephesos dates back to the mid-7th millennium B.C. Çukuriçi Höyük therefore belongs to the oldest known Neolithic settlements in western Anatolia. Even though the cultural levels frequently indicate the usage of marine resources and raw materials from the eastern Mediterranean area, the paleogeographical investigations nevertheless reveal that Çukuriçi Höyük did not lie directly on the Mediterranean coast at that time.
- Geoarchaeological investigations at the earliest so-called Sacred Harbour of Ephesos
In the immediate vicinity of the Artemision - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the so-called Sacred Harbour was situated, which offered protection for sailors in the name of the goddess Artemis. Its precise location is not known. In the framework of a detailed study, the north-eastern environs of the Artemision were explored. It was possible to identify a marine bay existing in the mid-first millennium B.C. between the Artemision and Ayasoluk-Hill. The first evaluations, however, suggest that the bay was relatively shallow and therefore unsuitable for a harbour.
- Geoarchaeological investigations at the Roman harbour bay and harbour channel of Ephesos and the site of the Late Roman and Byzantine harbours
Due to the fact that the beach continuously shifted to the west based on the formation of the delta, it was repeatedly necessary to relocate the harbour installations, in order to enable access for trade ships. In the Roman harbour basin, which dried out in late summer 2011, and in the area lying to the west of it, it was possible to bore a number of drillings, which ought to clarify its development and silting up. Because of progressive silting up, an artificial channel was laid out between the Roman harbour bay and the open sea. The geoarchaeological studies, begun in summer 2009, of the Harbour Necropolis and at the transition from the harbour bay to the harbour channel should make it possible to reconstruct the development of the harbour channel, its precise date, and the silting-up process. At the outlet of the Arvalya valley and south west of the Çanakgöl, drillings were carried out in order to ascertain the maximum extent of the former coastline and to locate suitable harbour bays for the Late Roman and Byzantine period. The evaluation of this material is currently taking place.
- Paleogeographical investigations of former lakes on the northern border of the Küçük Menderes valley
Silted-up lakes on northern border of the Küçük Menderes valley and the swamps of Belevi, which are located ca. 12 km in land are particularly appropriate as geo-bioarchives for deciphering the vegetation and climate history of the Ephesia. In summer 2009 and 2011, therefore, a number of drilling cores from the former lakes near Akgöl, Cevasir Gölu and Gümudekgöl were obtained. They are currently the focus of paleo-ecological investigation.
Duration of Project
Since Juli 2009
Financing
OeAI and University of Cologne
Cooperation
Archaeology:
PD Dr. Sabine Ladstätter (OeAI)
Dr. Barbara Horejs (Çukuriçi Höyük, OeAI)
Dr. Martin Steskal (Hafenkanal Ephesos, OeAI)
Dr. Michael Kerschner (Artemision, OeAI)
Natural Sciences:
Dr. Maria Knipping (Pollen analysis, University of Hohenheim)
PD Dr. P. Frenzel (Ostrakoden analysis, University of Jena)
Prof. Dr. J. C. Kraft (Geoarchaeology and Geology, University of Delaware, USA)
Prof. Dr. İ. Kayan (Geoarchaeology, University of Izmir)
Bibliography (selected)
- J. C. Kraft – İ. Kayan – H. Brückner – G. Rapp, A geological analysis of ancient landscapes and the harbors of Ephesus and the Artemision in Anatolia, ÖJh 69, 2000, 175–232.
- J. C. Kraft – İ. Kayan – H. Brückner, The geological and paleogeographical environs of the Artemision, in: U. Muss (ed.), Der Kosmos der Artemis von Ephesos, SoSchrÖAI 37 (Vienna 2001) 123–133.
- H. Brückner, Holocene shoreline displacements and their consequences for human societies: the example of Ephesus in Western Turkey, Zeitschrift f. Geomorphologie N. F., Suppl. 137 (Berlin 2005, 11–22).
- H. Brückner – J. C. Kraft – İ. Kayan, The sea under the city of ancient Ephesos, in: B. Brandt – V. Gassner – S. Ladstätter (eds.), Synergia. Festschrift Friedrich Krinzinger I (Vienna 2005) 147–156.
- J. C. Kraft – H. Brückner – İ. Kayan – H. Engelmann, The geographies of ancient Ephesus and the Artemision in Anatolia, Geoarchaeology, 22/1, 2007, 121–149.
- H. Brückner – J. C. Kraft – İ. Kayan, Vom Meer umspült, vom Fluss begraben – zur Paläogeographie des Artemisions, in: U. Muss (ed.), Die Archäologie der ephesischen Artemis. Gestalt und Ritual eines Heiligtums (Vienna 2008) 21–31.
- H. Brückner - R. Gerlach, Geoarchäologie - von der Vergangenheit in die Zukunft, in: H. Gebhard et al. (eds.), Geografie - Physische Geografie und Humangeografie (Heidelberg 2011) 1179–1186.
Contact
Institute of Geography
University of Cologne
Albertus-Magnus-Platz
D-50923 Cologne
Faculty of Geography
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Deutschhausstraße 10
D-35032 Marburg