Wednesday 1 June 2016

Ancient Harbours

L

On Friday I went to a talk by Dr. Oktay Dumankaya, an archaeologist concentrating on ancient harbours, a branch of the study that doesn't get much attention.  Underwater archaeology tends to publicise sensational finds of wrecks and their contents without telling us where these ships moored and how they were watered and provisioned.  Dr Dumankaysa's research focuses mostly on breakwaters, the remains of which tell us how land and sea levels have changed over the centuries, which harbours had chained entrances and whether the harbours were busy in Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine or all four periods.  It is accepted that an ancient 'wave breaker' as breakwaters are called in Turkish, was at least 2 meters high as they acted as a continuation of the city walls to protect harbours from intruders; remains of the Gümüşlük breakwater are still visible (above). Imagine a 2 meter wall rising from the sea between the plant and the island in the picture below and as dusk fell a chain would be raised at the harbour entrance to the right, making the port of Gümüşlük (Myndos) completely secure.


The breakwater on Çavuş Island, opposite Gümüşlük, is now 12 meters below sea level which suggests a sea level change of 14 meters over the centuries.  Historical sources tell us that there were 500 earthquakes between 500BC and 500AD which explains why some harbours have sunk and some haven't.  Many ancient breakwaters have been lost for mundane reasons.  Skippers using a sustantial stone to tie up their yachts may have not realised that they were gradually tugging a 2000 year old relic into the sea.  Dr Dumankaya has witnessed ancient submerged quaysides being dug up by hotel staff to save their customers toes or to embellish a garden wall and until all these harbours are given protected status, there is nothing to stop this happening.  


8 comments:

  1. . . the peripheral stuff is often the most fascinating giving, as it does, the better insight into daily life. As true today as when it opens the door to times past.

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    1. I wish I had paid more attention when sailing in the 1980s

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  2. Oh wow, these breakwaters need protection soon, then. They should be a tourist attraction in their own right, not seen as an obstacle to toursit comfort. Grrr. The new trend in Fethiye fr some of the beaches is to import sand so the tourists don't need to stand on pebbles. Drives me mad.
    Anyway, now that we've actually visited Gümüşlük, it's good to be able to picture all this. We loved Bodrum's concentration on all things maritime when we were there in April.

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  3. B to B, I'm always amazed at the wealth of people doing fascinating archaeological research in your area. I was thinking about the use of ancient building material for more modern structures and uses. When we were in Ukraine, we learned that gravestones were used as building material.

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    1. We are lucky to have so many talks - otherwise we wouldn't be any the wiser

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  4. Remember clambering over the submerged wall to get to 'Rabbit Island' and we're probably as guilty as the next yachtie in the 80's who tied up on boulders - sorry!!!

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    1. I had the same thought when he said it. I remember pulling up the jetty in knidos - goodness knows what other damage was done,

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