Türkiye’s underwater archaeological map underway

ISTANBUL

Turkish scientist Professor Cemal Pulak announced at a recent symposium that works have been carried out to make Türkiye’s underwater archaeological map and said the information cannot be shared openly due to the risk of looting.

Speaking at the International Mustafa V. Koç Underwater Archaeology Symposium, held at Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) on June 16 and 17, Pulak provided information about the developments regarding Turkish underwater archaeology.

Stating that they are faced with the plunder of treasure hunters underwater as well as on land, Pulak said, “While plundering underwater is more difficult, we are sure it happens. Archaeological remains unearthed underwater has no value on its own. The location of these remains and their untouched state inform us, the archaeologists. Apart from that, trawl nets also cause damage to archaeological wrecks. The shipwrecks and amphorae that we saw as a pile 30-40 years ago are gone today as trawl nets have broken them up. Due to the tourism activities in the bays, there is great damage caused by the ships and boats. Therefore, underwater archaeological remains should be documented as much as possible and brought to the scientific world.”

Highlighting that underwater archaeology tourism may have drawbacks, Pulak said, “It is not always possible to follow some rules in Türkiye. This is also the same for underwater. If the shipwrecks are opened to diving tourism, they become open for plundering. Some say that guided dives can prevent this plunder. However, there is great competition even among groups engaged in diving tourism in Türkiye. While some groups protect these wrecks, some see these remains as a gain. For this reason, it is very difficult to establish a control mechanism after the shipwrecks are opened to tourism. However, sunken ships that were sunk after World War II or later should be opened to tourism because they have no archaeological value. There are examples of this in Türkiye.”

Noting that the tsunami effect was observed in the 6th century-shipwrecks found in Yenikapı, Pulak said, “Thirty-seven shipwrecks have been excavated in Yenikapı, Istanbul. We worked on eight of them. The history of those shipwrecks goes from the 5th century to the 10th century. It is estimated that several shipwrecks from the 6th century have been damaged by the tsunami effect. Tsunamis can affect civilizations.”

Pulak also said they carried out excavations in the Uluburun Shipwreck, which is located near Kaş in the Mediterranean and dates to the end of the 14th century, between 1984 and 1995.

“We have dived into this wreck every summer for 11 years. We have realized 25,000 dives in total. As far as I know, it was the deepest wreck ever excavated continuously for 11 years. Now 28 years have passed and we continue to assemble tens of thousands of pieces, and we see that some pieces are missing. We don’t know if these pieces were plundered or we missed them.”