NEWS FROM CLAZOMENAE  2 

Our Dear Friends and Supporters;

As generally known away those who are more or less concerned about archaeological excavation campaigns, the real adventure of archaeology starts at the desks where the findings are evaluated in the post-excavation period, rather then the field work in summer months. Excavation means destruction; that is, the disturbance of the original state of protection under the earth, maintained for thousands of years according to a certain logic. The long adventure of even a tiny ceramic fragment that you find in excavating the ground, might be hidden in its very last position.

That little wine bowl might have been broken down by falling off the shaking hands of a frightened Clazomenian who was in urgency of packing his belongings to flee away to the island across when he heard about the bad news of defeat in the Ionian Revolt. A century later, maybe, when a group of the Clazomenians, in the island, upon a disagreement with the others, resolved to go back to their former town settlement, a Clazomenian intended to dig a well in his courtyard, finding half of the fragments of this wine bowl, scattered at the floor of the old house, he might have carried it along with the dug out soil of the well to somewhere else; maybe to be used as a filling to even the earthen couch in a corner of his house. After many years, during the Roman Period, when this very area was planned to be leveled for agricultural usage; or in Urla during the Ottoman Period, when an old man was digging out the soil to plant an olive sapling whose yield would be harvested by his grandson; or still in our age when PTT officials choose the same route to plant telephone lines, the adventure of the fragments of that tiny wine bowl acquires new dimensions.

That tiny ceramic fragment does not always tell you this summarized story. Yet, when you find some of the fragments of that wine bowl, lying side by side on the floor of the late Archaic Period house, the story begins. When you feel that some parts are missing, you start thinking where they might be. Right after, you notice the change of hue in the soil, and the stone walls of the well which indicates that a later period destruction. Then it is easy to estimate that the missing parts of the bowl should be within the dug out soil of the well spread over somewhere else. On the other hand, it gets sometimes harder to trace out the missing parts, and you could only find out the evidences years later. And then our first hypothesis gains significance: "Excavation means destruction". Unless you documented what you had destroyed as well as possible to reflect reality, you would not have another chance to look back again.

The documentation activities, starting in the field in summer, will continue in the following months. Trying to understand what we have destroyed during this two-month-period of excavation, and presented what we have not fathomed in the best way to be grasped by some other people, do very much occupy the rest period of ten months. Thus, we are writing you this letter with a desire to tell you briefly about the process how the raw knowledge is recorded and then, out of which the cooked knowledge is tried to be created. The following activities, seemingly independent in nature, can only be carried out with the collaboration and exchange of views of all mentioned people.

Three different olive oil plants, producing olive oil during the Archaic Period in Clazomenae were brought into the daylight in the excavations. The most improved and well-preserved of them all is the one, found in Hamdi Balaban Field. The publication about this workshop, technologically more developed then its contemporaries, is being prepared by Güven Bakır, Ertan İplikçi, the graphiker, and Elif Koparal, one of the graduate students.

Asistant Prof. Dr. Yaşar Ersoy of Bilkent University presented a paper in two distinct symposiums last year. One of his presentations, entitled "East Greek Pottery Groups of Sixth and Seventh Century B.C. from Clazomenae", was made in the "Die Agäis und das Westliche Mittelmeer" symposium held with cooperation of the Austrian Sciences Academy and the Institute of Archaeology in Wienna between March 24-27, 1999. Within the frame of this paper, focusing on the orientalizing ceramic findings, in the light of the recent data obtained from the Clazomenae excavations, the dating problems of the "Late Wild Goat Style" ceramic, belonging to North Ionia, were discussed with reference to the vast ceramics found within a pottery kiln that was brought into daylight during the Acropolis Southern Slope Excavations. With the other presentations in symposium, this paper will also be published in the year 2000. His other paper entitled "Clazomenae in the Archaic Period" was presented in the "Frühes Ionien: eine Bestandaufnahme" symposium, held by our German colleagues in Milet, between September 26 - October 1, 1999, in Panionion, the gathering point of the Ionians in the ancient period (today’s Güzelçamlı Province), because of the 100^th anniversary of the excavations in the site. Delivering his modified paper as an article, entitled "Notes on Early History and Archaeology of Clazomenae", to be published in the Symposium proceedings, Dr. Ersoy expanded the scope of his study, and evaluated the data related to the period from the end of Bronze Age settlement in town to the Ionian Revolt. Comparing and contrasting the historical topography of the town, the architectural traces of civil settlement, the industrial areas and the necropoleis of the age with the other traces coming from various centers in Aegean region, he made assessments about the Early Ionian Art.

Another study carried out by Dr. Ersoy is the monography in which the results of the 1983-84 and finally 1989 excavation campaigns in the northern part of Hamdi Balaban Field are discussed. The most significant findings, brought into daylight at the end of a three-year period of excavations in the northwest part of the town, belong to the houses built in the early Sixth Century B.C. Apart from discussing the stratigraphy and data of these buildings, a limited amount of traces, dated to the Geometric Period, the layers in the same area belonging to the Fourth Century B.C., and some small findings related to them, are all included within the scope of the study to be published by the end of this year.

One of our Ph. D. students, Bige Hürmüzlü is working on the "Clazomenae Akpınar Necropolis". In this necropolis dating back to 660-650 B.C., the early forms of burials are cremation. In these early burial examples, the co-existance of the local ceramics and the Corinthian perfume flasks as grave offerings, presents significant evidences especially for the chronology of Clazomenian orientalizing pottery and bird-bowls. It has been found out that, during 630 B.C., terracotta sarcophagi were first used for burial. Either the overlap of this date with the establishment of Naucratis, emporion in Egypt by the Ionians, or the appearance in Egypt of the similar examples of the early terracotta sarcophagi forms of apsidal or imitating wooden boxes, well explains the source of inspiration for the transformation in their burial customs. Contrary to our knowledge today, the Akpınar Necropolis which has proven the rooted tradition of the terracotta sarcophagi, and the relationship with the pottery of the period and decorations on both sides of the sarcophagi, will contribute much to our understanding of the early archaic culture of Ionia. Miss Hürmüzlü has been pursueing her studies in British School at Athens with a six-month-scholarship grated by the Onassis Foundation. On March 2, 2000, she gave there a talk, entitled "Necropoleis of Clazomenae in the Archaic Period", by elaborating on the burying grounds and the burial customs in Clazomenae.

Hüseyin Cevizoğlu, another Ph. D. student, however, is working on "the Relief Vases of the Archaic Period Clazomenae" It is supposed that Clazomenae is one of the production centers of these interesting artefacts which have been wellknown with their examples from the Ionian centers, especially Chios and Bayraklı. and from the Ionian colonies in the Black Sea region. Their relations with the decorated ceramics of the period, the art of sculpture (monumental and coroplastic works), the monumental architectural decorative stone elements, the architectural terracotta elements, wellknown from many centers in West Anatolia, and finally with the terracotta sarcophagi, produced in Clazomenae and richly decorated with figures, can be observed. In this respect, the relief vases have the potential to refer to many art forms because of their common features. Mr. Cevizoğlu, who is also working on the blacksmith’s workshop, brought into daylight in 1999, will be doing research next year in Halle University in Germany with a DAAD scholarship.

Another Ph. D. student, Nezih Aytaçlar, is, however, working on the "Clazomenian Orientalizing Pottery". As one of the decorated ceramic styles produced in West Anatolia during the Archaic Period, this ceramic is well-known with animal friezes, especially wild-goat. For this pottery, some regional production centers, with certain stylistic bases, have been observed, and some studies have been recently carried out on Chios (by Anna Lemos), Caria (by İsmail Fazlıoğlu) and Aeolis (by Kaan İren) regions. Yet, it is still sensed that there are some chronological, as well as terminological gaps for this pottery. The appearance of the orientalizing pottery samples along side with the Corinthian pottery dated to 660-640 B.C. in the early burials in Clazomenae Akpınar Necropolis, necessitates the reconsideration of those already known, at least for the North Ionia region. Knowing the orientalizing pottery better will bring a new light to many problems, especially anout the dates of the Black Sea colonies whose chronologies are set up according to this pottery. Mr. Aytaçlar is also working on the stratification and the findings of the building, supposed to belong to the first Ionian immigrants, which was started to be excavated in 1999. The classification, restoration and drawings of the findings are realized by Kozan Uzun and Fuat Yılmaz.

Another Ph. D. student, Ümit Güngör, on the other hand, is working on the "Clazomenae Yıldıztepe Necropolis". In Clazomenae, especially in the Archaic Period, there were many necropoleis, simultaneously opened to the public use; the necropoleis are supposed to be preferred because of the social organization of the period divided into various clans. The Yıldıztepe Necropolis, with its numerous burials over each other on a slopy area, presents meaningful data especially for the classical type terracotta Clazomenaean sarcophagi. Knowing the richly decorated canonical Clazomenaean sarcophagi better, will also shed light on contemporary pottery styles as well.

One of the Ph. D. students, Fikret Özbay, is starting to work on the findings of the Fourth Century B.C. settlement, whereas, another Ph. D. student, Bekir Özer, is concentrating on the Clazomenaean black figured pottery. He has also been continuing the documentation of the Acropolis findings, excavated previous years. On the other hand, one of our former students, Dr. Gürol Barın, has prepared his study entitled "The Roof Tiles and the Roof Styles Reconstruction in the Fourth Century B.C. Clazomenae" for publication.

One of our graduate students, Fuat Yılmaz, is working on Dennis Painter, one of the early painters of the Clazomenaean sarcophagi. Working on his two recently found sarcophagi in the Clazomenae and Özbek Village excavations, and the fragments likely belong to the painter, Mr. Yılmaz has put forward new evidences to prove the hypothesis that some of the early period artists might have been working in the same workshop. His observations about the sarcophagi of some other painters also display the necessity for a more detailed project on the decorated sarcophagi of Clazomenae.

One of our graduate students, Kozan Uzun, is starting to work on the Archaic Period plastic vases of Clazomenae. Yusuf Sezgin of Trakya University, however, is examining the large construction (may be a palace?) built in the Fourth Century B.C. in the HBT sector. The solution of the problems about the plan of the building, its construction phases, and its chronology, might bring out meaningful results about the origins of the basileia architecture to become widespread during the Hellenistic Period.

One of our undergraduate students, Günsel Özbilen, is working on a project entitled "The Rhyton Askoi Found in the Clazomenae Akpınar Necropolis", whereas Melike Zeren, another undergraduate, is focusing on the "Fourth Century B.C. Local Bowls of Clazomenae". It is quite noticeable that in the locally produced bowls, the tradition which started in the Seventh Century B.C. and whose form and decoration development could be traced by the end of the Sixth Century B.C., still maintained its existance in the Fourth Century B.C. as well.

The cleaning process for the Fourth Century B.C. silver coin hoard found in 1998 in FGT sector, has been passionately carried out by Mustafa Kulkul of the Izmir Archaeology Museum. Within this treasure, thought to be buried between the years of 370-330 B.C., there are, apart from the Attic tetradrachmae, the Clazomenaean tetradrachme, drachme, and 1 ½ oboloi. The magistrate names, especially on the Clazomenae coins, are meaningful for the history of the Fourth Century B.C. Nezih Aytaçlar will discuss the finding conditions of these coins in the publication prepared by Prof. Dr. Andreas Furthwängler of Halle University and his colleagues.

Unfortunately however, the terracotta sarcophagi found in the Clazomenae necropolis, are not so well-preserved because of either their volumes, and burning problems, or the organic quality of the soil they have been buried in. Therefore, a very serious restoration activity is necessary to conduct sound examination of these sarcophagi, and to protect these works for the future generations. With such a concern, the studies, undertaken by Semih Özkan of the Ceramic Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dokuz Eylül University, and his students have been progressing. Yet, some support is urgent to deal with this problem within the scope of a larger scale project.

In publicizing the Clazomenae Archaic Period olive oil plant to the world, the visit of a group of American gourmet writers to Clazomenae in April, with the organization of the Union of Aegean Exporters, was quite significant. Thus, the Ionian contribution to olive oil technology was, once again, opened to discussion, and the urgency of the renovation of the plant prevailed. In March, Nezih Aytaçlar gave a talk to the members of the Tourist Guides’ Association, on Clazomenae, and the archaeological site was visited by the tourist guides. On May 3, 2000, Güven Bakır gave a lecture on Clazomenae to the members of the Urla Rotary Club.

In the March 2000 issue of the magazine, Science and Utopia (Bilim ve Ütopya), Nilüfer İlkaya’s interview with Güven Bakır on Clazomenae published; the explanatory information about the antique town was written by Nezih Aytaçlar. A book has been prepared to make the public familiar with the 20 year-history of the Clazomenae excavations; this study realized in a computer-medium, will be published soon.

The German version of our Web Page (http://klazomenai.tripod.com) has been recently put into the internet use as a result of a gradual preparation process. This page, however, is not limited to a brief introduction to Clazomenae; our web page, which presents evaluations about the excavation held in Clazomenae till the present, and is updated in the light of the new findings, has a capacity to respond to many questions of those who are concerned about the subject with its 50-60 page-content, rich bibliography and around 200 illustrations.

Abdera is one of the cities told to be colonized, in various historical accounts, by Clazomenae herself. The findings obtained from the archaeological excavations held in the city are significant to understand the cultural relations between the motherland and the colony. Therefore, a sound exchange of information between the two excavations is a necessity. We have decided with our Greek colleagues to hold a workshop in Thessaloniki next fall as the first yield of our scientific and cultural collaboration. We hope such good relations between the two neighbouring countries established in other fields as well.

The graduation thesis of Anette Krause which discuss geological structure of Clazomenae and its environs, under the advisership of Prof. Dr. Bernt Schröder, of Bochum University, has been completed. Dr. Harald Stümpel, of Kiel University, intends, with his geomagnetic measurements in the ancient city area in 1998-1999, to determine the ancient city structure (especially the Fourth Century B.C. large structure), and the location of the pottery kilns. With such a good, he tries to match the archaeological findings obtained from the excavation sites with the measurement results. Dr. Filiz Demirel, of the same university, aims at determine the contours of the bay believed to exist in the east of the city during the ancient period, by using well-log sismology and the MSP method.

If the public and private institutes keep their promises to support us to achieve our objectives determined in the 2000 excavations, we will be glad to correspond with you again after the excavation season.

Güven Bakır

Figure 1. An orientalizing oinochoe belonging to the middle of the Seventh Century B.C. was found as a grave offering in a cremation burial from the Akpınar Necropolis at Clazomenae.

Figure 2. An early apsidal terracotta sarcophagus from the Akpınar Necropolis. Both its form and its decoration of the interior and exterior sides shows the influences of the Egyptian examples. Last quarter of the Seventh Century B.C.

Figure 3. Fragment of a terracotta relief ceramic belonging to the Sixth century B.C. founded in the Acropolis of Clazomenae.

Figure 4. The examples of skyphoi dated Protogeometric and Geometric Period, were brought into daylight in the building dated the foundation days of the Ionian city. Drawings: Fuat Yılmaz

Figure 5. Clazomenaean terracotta sarcophagus founded Yıldıztepe Necropolis, middle of the Sixth Century B.C. which was painted by Dennis Painter, one of the early sarcophagus painters. The animal figures and floral designs made by reserved technique have the parallels impacts with the contemporary orientalizing pottery.

Figure 6. The restoration project of the sarcophagi from Akpınar Necropolis undertaken by Semih Özkan, the ceramic artist, have been progressing.

Figure 7. Clazomenae Yıldıztepe Necropolis, excavated between 1979-1982 campaigns, has a great deal of graves in three different phases. It is obvious that the re-organisation of the necropolis area which had been used in the Geometric Period, was maintained at the beginning of the second quarter of the Sixth Century B.C. by using the terracotta Clazomenian sarcophagi. It is interesting that those of sarcophagi, richly decorated with figures, belong to this early burial period. In 546 B.C., after the Persian invasion, the necropolis areas were abandoned at the same time with city. However, at the beginning of the last quarter of the century, the necropolis is reused with numerous burials over each other for 25 years. Apart from the sarcophagi decorated with figures or simple ornaments, there are amphorae and pithoi graves in this new using phase. It is clear that the last using of the necropolis started at the ending of the Fifth Century B.C. and continued during Fourth Century B.C.

Figure 8. The Clazomenian ceramic masters began to produce a black figured style pottery, influenced by technique and types of Attic potters at the second half of the Sixth Century B.C. A Clazomenae black figure ceramic fragment decorated with siren figures, founded in Acropolis.

Figure 9. A new city was founded around a district called Chyton on the mainland in the Fourth Century B.C. at Clazomenae which was an island city from the beginning of the Fifth Century B.C. At the excavations in the Feride Gül Field, public quarters of a city designed by a rectangular plan was uncovered. A hoard, contained 149 silver coins, was found one of the houses of the city. The hoard must be buried between the years of 370-300 B.C. according to the finding stratum. On front side one of the Clazomenian tetradrachmi in the hoard, the Apollo head, on back side of the coin the swan figure, the symbol of the city were carved. Apart from the name of the city, the name of the magistrate are emphaized on the coins.

Figure 10. The roof of the houses at Khyton were covered with the roof-tiles, in the Fourth Century B.C. Due to the fact that no example of the ridge tiles was found belonging to the gabled roof, it seems reasonable that the roofs must have been built up as sloping towards one side. The restitution of the rain gutter type tile organization. Drawing: Gürol Barın.

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