Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the wood species of the marine and filling piles obtained from the ancient Byzantine port of Eleutherius/ Theodosius, Istanbul, Turkey. Anatomical descriptions and identifications of 12 marine and 4 filling piles were performed by microscopic evaluations. In the study, Castanea sativa Mill., Quercus ithaburensis Decne., Quercus pontica C. Koch., and Cupressus sempervirens L. species were identified. No precise identifications were completed for only six samples at the species level; however, those samples showed significant similarity to Quercus spp. and Fagus spp. It was concluded that the economically viable supply of wood was more appropriate than obtaining it from nearby regions. The people living in ancient times had solid knowledge and experience on the utilization of wood species.
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WOOD IDENTIFICATION OF WOODEN MARINE PILES FROM THE ANCIENT BYZANTINE PORT OF ELEUTHERIUS/THEODOSIUS
Dilek Dogu,* Coskun Kose, S. Nami Kartal, and Nurgun Erdin
The purpose of this study was to identify the wood species of the marine and filling piles obtained from the ancient Byzantine port of Eleutherius/ Theodosius, Istanbul, Turkey. Anatomical descriptions and identifications of 12 marine and 4 filling piles were performed by microscopic evaluations. In the study, Castanea sativa Mill., Quercus ithaburensis Decne., Quercus pontica C. Koch., and Cupressus sempervirens L. species were identified. No precise identifications were completed for only six samples at the species level; however, those samples showed significant similarity to Quercus spp. and Fagus spp. It was concluded that the economically viable supply of wood was more appropriate than obtaining it from nearby regions. The people living in ancient times had solid knowledge and experience on the utilization of wood species.
Keywords: Marmaray Project; Archaeological wood, Wood identification; Port of Eleutherius/Theodosius
Contact information: Department of Forest Biology and Wood Protection Technology, Forestry Faculty, Istanbul University, Bahcekoy, Sariyer, 34473, Istanbul, Turkey; *Corresponding author: addogu@istanbul.edu.tr
INTRODUCTION
Throughout its long history Istanbul has served as the capital city of four great empires, namely the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, for more than 1,600 years. Istanbul has been a crucial trade center for various goods as well as a ‘metropolitan’ city for more than 2,800 years since the city was not only an administrative, but also a religious center (Keskin and Diren 1992).
In 2004, an enormous project called Marmaray was given a start to construct an underwater tunnel between the Asian and European sides of Istanbul, and thus to ease the city’s traffic problem. The tunnel under the Bosphorus will be the deepest built ever with its deepest point being about 58 m under the water surface. The deep stations and tunnels are being constructed in the area where civilization can be traced more than 7,000 years back in time (Lykke and Belkaya 2005). The ancient Byzantine port of the fourth-century has been recently uncovered under the slums of Yenikapi as the focal point of $4 billion tunnel project, in the European side of Istanbul, (Fig. 1) (Marine Cultural and Historic Newsletter 2006).
The port is a trove of relics dating back as far as the time of Constantine the Great. The Roman emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium in 330 AD and renamed the city Constantinople, which became Istanbul later (Journal of Indian Ocean Archeology 2006). It finally grew into the busiest trading center in the
Fig. 1. The Marmaray Project along the coast line of the Marmara Sea and Yenikapi excavation area
eastern Mediterranean. The ships from here carried the wine in jars and amphorae from the Sea of Marmara and the cargoes of grain came in from Alexandria. The ancient Byzantine port called Port of Eleutherius / Theodosius, which was built by The Roman Emperor Theodosius I (A.C. 379–395), was an important one until the 7th century; however, it was abandoned since then because grain trade came to end. Afterwards, this ancient port area became filled by alluvium of the River Bayrampasha, was merged with the mainland during the first years of the Ottoman Empire, and was used for vegetable farming at a site called Vlanga (Langa) Bostani (ARIT Newsletter 2006, 2007).
This paper aims to identify the wood species of wooden marine and filling piles from the biggest port of the Byzantine Era (Günsenin 2007). For this purpose, wooden objects excavated from the port were subjected to anatomical examination by using light microscopy analysis.
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
In 2007, 16 wood samples (12 marine and 4 filling piles) in varying sizes and characteristics were obtained from the Yenikapı Marmaray site (Table 1), where excavations continue, led by the Istanbul Archaeological Museum (Fig. 2). The site showed barren sandy sediment characteristics; however, no soil analyses were done to determine site characteristics. Since wood may shrink, fragment, and collapse into small pieces, all samples were stored in water at 4ºC, and the water was renewed at two- or three-week intervals (Blanchette 2000).