Main Page I Newsletter from Clazomenae 1 I Newsletter from Clazomenae 2 I Newsletter from Clazomenae 3 I Klazomenai / Clazomenae I Ionia Yazokulu Eylül 2003
NEWS FROM CLAZOMENAE 1
November 1999
Our Dear Friends and Supporters,
Though squeezed to the right edge of the frame, immediately attracts our attention a light house, at the farthest point of the break water. Beholding its cupola, we realize that we are in an East Mediterranean port. The wooden vessel with a large bulge amidst the frame sounds as if to weigh anchor for the high seas tracing the wake of the Argonauts. There lies in the harbor a range of amphorae filled with olive oil, emphasizing the significance of sea trade for these men of humble riches in all ages. And the fishing boats with the sea gulls turning above them to enjoy their shares
Till the verge of the new millennium, the 2000s, nothing much changed in the Port of Urla since the 1950s, after Freya Stark took this black-and-white picture. A few yachts anchoring recently in the harbor do not alter the view. The Karantina Island covered with pine forests is connected to the mainland by a narrow way with the Çatalkaya Mountains in the background, trying to hinder the beams of the morning sun out of envy. Sheltering one of the cemeteries of the ancient city, Yıldıztepe views the whole panorama at the rear. With its tobacco and okra fields, olive trees and scattered homes, a tiny and modest settlement.
The archaeological excavations in Clazomenae, one of the tiny and modest cities of Ionia, have been advancing without dreaming to find any magnificient buildings, palaces constructed of marble, and gold jewelry. We are excavating the world of the poor. Yet, under the earth lies the world of the natural scientists, the pioneers of the positive thinking, such as Heracleitos of Ephesus, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and Thales of Miletus, who precalculated the total eclipse of the sun on May 28, 585 B.C., nearly 2500 years ago from now, just like an identical natural phenomenon observed recently in todays Anatolia. In each hoeing of the soil, we better understand the world of the people who make policy, as we use the term today and possessed their lands as the equal and free citizens of the city states they lived in, and of the individuals who accepted democracy for the first time as a way of life and the painters, sculptures, architects and of the immortal poets like Homer.
Twenty years have been passed since the beginning of the Clazomenae Excavations. With the participation of various members of Turkish press, the 20th Anniversary was celebrated with a small festive event. During the celebrations, Selçuk Karaosmanoğlu, the Mayor of Urla emphasized the support his office has given to the project from the very beginning, which provide ample evidence to the significance of their province in the history of human culture; Güven Bakır, the director of excavations, also stated that their objective was to reconstruct the evidence of brilliant civilization of the past with their houses of equal size, household goods, graveyards showing a fair distribution of wealth, and with their pottery and olive oil plants representing the technology of their age.
The current season of excavation which began on July 7, was made possible with the cooperation of the Ministery of Culture (by taking this opportunity, wed like to express our gratitude to our representative, Kazım Mertek of Konya Museum, for his assistance) and Ege University. The Urla Atatürk Primary School provided for our service by the governors office of Urla (we like to express our sincere wishes for Ali Kamil Başıhoş, the Governor of Urla, who has always been of assistance to us on any subject) was used as base of the excavation compound (we also want to thank to Taner Şener, the Director of Atatürk Primary School). When the excavation camp was settled and the cleaning activities to prepare the site for excavation was over, the team was ready to work on two sectors. We would like to express our gratitude to Mehmet (the meticulous) Karaoğlu of Urla Municipality, who provided us minute transportation facilities from the camp to the ancient site for more than two months every morning and afternoon sometimes even including weekends.
The HBT (Hamdi Balaban Field, named after the field owner) sector team under the coordination of the Assistant Professor Dr. İsmail Fazlıoğlu of Trakya University included Dr. Angeliki Kosmopoulou (also currently working on the archaic terracottas from the site), Hüseyin Cevizoğlu and Yusuf Sezgin (both are archaeologist from Ege University) and our students. Two objectives had been determined for this sector. First it was planned to excavate the neighbouring area of the olive oil production plant which could be brought into daylight with all its infrastructure. The excavations in the plant which was discovered in 1992 is progressing since 1997 under the sponsorship of the Komili Olive Oil Company. Owing to its infrastructure which was cut into bedrock, it would be possible to fathom the running mechanism of the plant and to reactivate it by reconstructing the wooden parts which could not survive to the present. In 1999, necessary activities to reconstruct the 2500 years-old plant, and to clean the surroundings for environmental planning were completed. The cistern built within one of the storing chambers of the plant in the late antiquity was cleaned (with the participation of our photographer in the excavations, Ümit Güngör, the archaeologist) and the storing-chamber excavated upon the main rock was totally brought into daylight.
Earth is full of surprises for the archaeologists. One of the pleasant wonder of this year was the finding of the blacksmiths workshop to the north of the olive oil plant. First it was attracted our attention by plentiful iron slags as if scattered around. Following the advice of the Associate Professor Dr. Ünsal Yalçın, a geologist/archaeometrist from Bochum University/Germany, the soil dug out of this area was scanned with a magnet, and a great amount of iron splinters and dust was found. These must be the splinters scattered around while the ironsmith was beating the iron on the anvil. This finding provided ample evidence to the meaning to the two hearths that were recovered in the area, it seems likely that the stone used as an anvil, and the hollow opened to put water for tempering iron. Thus, it was once again justified that this part of the city had been used as an "industrial quarter" somewhere in the 6th century B.C.
The second objective in the HBT sector was to investigate the lay-out of a large-scale structure built here in the 4th century B.C. With its magnificent retaining walls built with well-cut blocks, and large scale levelling activities covering the whole bedrock cavities in the area before its construction, with its nearly 1 m. thick walls, and residential units positioned around courtyards, it is obvious that this was not an ordinary building. We surmise that it was one of an early example of basileia type structures which became quite widespread during the Hellenistic Period. The building is unfortunately very close to the surface, and the levelling activities that took place in the Roman Imperial Period destroyed it rather severely. However, the examination of the foundations and the trenches for the walls dug into the bedrock revealed that it was originally expanded west, and covered a larger area than have been previously estimated. The recent findings also provide ample evidence that the structure has two distinct construction phases that both belong to the first half of the 4th century B.C.
The area near to the prehistoric mound at Limantepe was chosen as the second excavation area in 1999 campaign. A team including of the two archaeologists, Nezih Aytaçlar and Fuat Yılmaz (both from Ege University, Izmir), and our undergraduate students searched this area for a structure belonging to the Protogeometric period, thats around 10th century B.C., which was presumably the foundation date of Ionian Clazomenae. In 1998, team under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Hayat Erkanal (Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography) working in the prehistoric mound, had brought to light scraps of walls of a structure in apsidal plan, thought to be belonging to the Dark Ages. Prof. Dr. Hayat Erkanal kindly allowed us to work on this structure, which was part of classical Clazomenae. Thus we had a great chance to investigate this rarely-known period of Ionia within a structure whose architecture could survive to the present. The unit, with 0.60-0.70 m. thick walls that preserve into a height somewhere even up to a meter, could not have been completely exposed. However, it was understood that it was longer than 7.00m., and wider than 3.50m. The research is still going on the ceramics found on the floor of the house which was evidently destroyed by fire. Although the ground plan was quite clear, certain modifications made within the structure, and firm stratification related with its subphases could not have been deduced of later intrusions. A well of 4th century B.C. which was dug in the middle of the structure, and robbing trenches dating to the Roman period damaged the stratifications to a great extent.
Another surprise kept by the earth was, this time came from the neighbouring team of Prof. Dr. Hayat Erkanal, working in prehistoric mound (once again with our gratitudes). During an excavation planned to reach the prehistoric layers, a pithos tomb belonging to the Late Ptotogeometric period was brought to light. In this tomb of an infant, there were some rare findings that may throw light to the early period of Clazomenae, such as an oinochoe, a small jug, and two one-handled cups, one of which was monochrome, left there as goods for the deceased. This tomb proves that in the Protogeometric period, there were intramural burials at least for young infants. The 1999 findings, alongside with a Protogeometric hydria recovered in 1998 campaigns, emphasized once again the significance of this part of the mound for the Dark Ages and the period of Ionian colonization. It is understood that Clazomenae could contribute much to our knowledge of this early period which is pretty obscure because of the lack of sufficient research of the concerning epoch. The excavations in this area will be continued in the following seasons.
Undergraduate students of the Classical Archaeology Program at Ege University, including Günsel Özbilen, Melike Zeren, Gürcan Senem, Mehmet Gürbüzer, Pınar Kokuluçiçek, Yasemin Deliboz, Özden Ürkmez, and Onur İplikçi of Antalya Vocational School of Industry, participated in the excavations.
There were not only archaeologists working in the field. A geophysics team under the guidance of Dr. Harald Stümpel and Dr. Filiz Demirel of Kiel University (Anne Brisard, Miriam Spinner, Sören Stümpel and Malke Buddensiek of the same university were the other members of the team), tried to figure out the coast-line of antiquity, to locate the pottery workshops on the southern slopes of the acropolis hill, and to search the layout of a large 4th century B.C. structure in the HBT sector. The investigations first initiated 1998 campaign proved that the coast-line was quite different then today, and the sea in Kalabak Area was penetrating much deeper to the south.
A significant part of our studies was held in the excavation house as in previous years. While Assistant Prof. Dr. Yaşar Ersoy (Bilkent University, Ankara) continued to study the findings and the associated stratigraphy in the HBT North Sector for the publication, Bilge Hürmüzlü (archaeologist, Ege University) worked on the material from the Akpınar Necropolis recovered in the previous campaigns. Kozan Uzun, (archaeologist, Ege University), restored the poor and very fragmentary pieces of the Akpınar Necropolis (with his everlasting patience and care), and Emre Eser (an undergraduate at the Restoration and Conservation Department of Başkent Vocational School, Ankara University) assisted him in the ceramic restoration. After participating Colophon excavations, Fikret Özbay (archaeologist, Ege University) drew the plans of the excavated areas (together with Yusuf Sezgin). Semih Özkan, (research assistant at the Ceramic Department of Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts) with his students, Cüneyt Özkaya and Tarık Kartal, restored three sarcophagi that were exposed in the Akpınar Necropolis. Apart from his support for the excavation and geophysical researches, Mithat Yavuz Taner, on the other hand, computerized the plans of the Akpınar Necropolis. The 1/20 scale model of the olive oil plant was designed by one of the instructors at Urla Highschool, Ertan İplikçi. The drawings of the findings were accomplished by Fuat Yılmaz (under our adoring looks).
The digitalization of the topographic maps of the excavation areas was accomplished with the contribution of Çözer Topography and Engineering Company.
After the Kocaeli disaster, an earthquake of August 17 which drowe the whole country into mourning, a team from Ege University under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Nuran Şahin went to the disaster area to give support to the rescue operations. With the members of the Phocaea excavations, Ümit Güngör, Fuat Yılmaz, Yusuf Sezgin, Mehmet Gürbüzer, Özden Ürkmez, and Emre Eser of the Clazomenae team participated in the activities at Değirmendere which was once a pleasent village near the sea in Marmara.
In 1999, the Skylife Magazine (March 1999) published an article on Clazomenae olive oil plant, and the Art Dekor Magazine (March and Apri 1999) published a two volume article about Clazomenae excavations. On the other hand, a web-page with a detailed summary of the excavation results was made available and is curretnly online (an English version is under construction), with a following URL address: http://homepages.msn.com/terminus/klazomenai and http://klazomenai.tripod.com.
Since there is no permanent excavation compound used by the team, the field work of Clazomenae excavations is seriously limited in terms of active period on the site. The appropriation of the old Elemantary School in Denizli Village to be used as the excavation house, and Urla Municipalitys permission for the neighbouring field have made us quite hopeful this time. We are still looking for some financial support both for the restoration of the old school buildings and the construction of annexes for lodging and study purposes.
This excavation could not have been made possible without the contribution of various institutions and individuals such as Ege University, Ministery of Culture, Urla Municipality, Komili Olive Oil Company, Pınar Food Products Group, TANSAŞ, Pehlivanoğlu, Faz Elektrik, M. Yavuz Taner, Gökhan Atik and with its delicious dishes Urla Merkez Lokantası (well done, Bilgin Abi), to whom we all like to express our gratitude.
We hope to meet once again in the upcoming newsletters from Urla, the tiny and humble town in the Ionian Sea.
Güven Bakır
Excavation Director
Figure 1. The Wharf Urla in the 1950s from Freya Starks objective. The amphorae filled with olive oil are ready for the voyages to the distant lands just like 2500 years ago.
Figure 2. The view of the Wharf of Urla from Yıldıztepe. The Karantina Island on the right hand, and the Limantepe Mound in front of it.
Figure 3. On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Clazomenae Excavations, Prof. Dr. Güven Bakır is making an announcement to the press on the olive oil plant.
Figure 4. Selçuk Karaosmanoğlu, the Mayor of Urla, and Prof. Dr. Güven Bakır, the Director of the Excavations, are in Hamdi Balaban Field, on the 20th Anniversary of the Clazomenai Excavations.
Figure 5. The members of the excavation are seeing off Dr. Angeliki Kosmopoulou. The illustrations of the Fortress of Çeşme on the left, and of Chios on the right, on the courtyard wall of Urla Atatürk Primary School.
Figure 6. The blacksmiths workshop dated to the archaic period, found in Hamdi Balaban Field in 1999. At the rear are the storage chamber of the olive oil plant and a late period cistern.
Figure 7. The soil is being scanned with a magnet for iron splinters and dust in the archaic period blacksmiths workshop found in Hamdi Balaban Field.
Figure 8. The wiev of the Protogeometric period oval structure in Limantepe Mound from the west. Amidst is the well belonging to the 4th century B.C.
Figure 9. The Protogeometric period pithos tomb found in Limantepe Mound with its goods for deceased.
Figure 10. A bowl, found in the Akpınar Necropolis, is being restorated as carefully as possible by Kozan Uzun, the archaeologist.
Figure 11. Prof. Dr. Crawford Holloak Greenewalt, the Director of Sardeis Excavations is together with Prof. Dr. Güven Bakır and Dr. İsmail Fazlıoğlu in the Clazomenae Excavations.
Figure 12. The archaic period olive oil plant model designed by Ertan İplikçi.
Main Page I Newsletter from Clazomenae 1 I Newsletter from Clazomenae 2 I Newsletter from Clazomenae 3 I Klazomenai / Clazomenae I Ionia Yazokulu Eylül 2003