Page 28 - TINA Dergi Sayi 11

TINA

Denizcilik Arkeolojisi Dergisi

It shows that there is a close relationship between It has been found out that during the phase of the
the latest developments in Gediz delta and foundation Holocene transgression following the Last Glacial
of Panaztepe and Limankent archaeological settle- Maximum in the Bornova Plain, the sea was 1.5 km
ments . A total of 20 drillings were carried out in the inner than the present shoreline toward the plain over
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plain in order to identify paleogeographical charac- the İzmir Gulf (Fig. 9).
teristics of Gediz delta, and elucidate geoarchaeology The Yeşilova, İpeklikuyu and Yassıtepe mounds
of the ancient sites in the delta. Drill core analysis standing on the mid-section of the plain were locat-
showed marine and deltaic sediments as main units ed 2.5 km inland from the shoreline even during the
of deposits during the past 7000 years on an overall Middle Holocene when the sea encroached on the
section in SE-NW direction (Fig. 8). It appears that land most. On the other hand, the Bayraklı Mound,
the former shoreline of Gediz delta extended along which is now located 600 m inland from the shoreline
the western edges of Musabey, Kesikköy and Ulucak was surrounded by sea like a peninsula (Fig. 10). The
neighbourhoods in N-S direction during the Middle Yeşilova Mound was rather distant from the shore
Holocene (7000-6000 years ago) . The sea reached compared to its present position because the shoreline
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near Limankent in the NW-SE direction between the was slightly more off when it was first settled 8500
Maltepe village and Limankent (Fig. 8). years ago. With cessation of the sea level rise from the
Furthermore, the hilly area in the Maltepe neigh- Middle Holocene, the small streams in the plain were
bourhood was an island during the Middle Holocone, able to fill only a shoreline of 1.5 km with sediments
which indicates that the vicinity of Limankent has during the past 6000 years. A few meters of decrease
suitable conditions for a potential ancient port . in the sea level during the Bronze Age also contrib-
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4- THE BAYRAKLI MOUND (SMYRNA), uted to this incident . It was also found out that the
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SHORELINE OF BORNOVA PLAIN ash from the Minoan eruption of Santorini (3640 BC)
The Bornova Plain and its shoreline was shaped rap- reached to the region and maintained in the small lake
idly during the Holocene transgression, containing and swamps around the Bayraklı Mound (Fig. 10).
the area on which Yeşilova and Smyrna, the earliest The rise in the sea level again until reaching its pres-
settlements of İzmir are located (Fig. 4, 9). The sea ent level 2000 years ago had no impact on its land-
has not encroached much further to the inner parts of ward movement .
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the plain, which is covered with urban texture to a 5- KLAZOMENAI-LIMANTEPE, URLA COASTAL PLAIN
great extent at present . Therefore, inner parts con- The Urla Peninsula, which is located on the shores
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tain settlements from the Middle Holocene and earli- of Western Anatolia, has had favorable geographical
er . Among them, the most significant one is Yeşilova conditions for settlement throughout the ages. To the
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dating back to the Neolithic Period . On the coast, the north of the city of Urla, which gave its name to the
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shoreline initially moved landward by transgression peninsula lies the İskele coastal plain. On the shore of
unlike inner parts, and then deposition of sediments İzmir Gulf, the plain is renown with the ancient set-
from the land resulted in alluvial-colluvial plains, and tlement of Klazomenai (Fig. 4). Limantepe is a 15 m
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the shoreline moved westward. The ancient city of high hill on the shore, housing a submerged ancient
Smyrna lies on the coastal part of the plain where this port on its western skirt . According to archaeolog-
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change took place. Core drillings were carried out in ical excavations, the first settlement here started on
Bornova Plain and Smyrna in order to elucidate these Limantepe and its southern skirt during the Bronze
changes. Microfossil and elemental analyses were Age (4800-3900 BC). Then-burgeoning settlement
used to determine coastal-terrestrial transitions on the expanded to the west and south, resulting in the city
shores of Bornova Plain, which has undergone a rapid of Klazomenai of the Archaic and Classical Ages
change since the Bronze Age . (2800-2400 BC) .
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16 ÖNER – VARDAR 2018b, 2018c
17 ÖZKAN 2012; ÖNER – KAYAN 2006; KAYAN – ÖNER 2015
18 ÖNER − VARDAR 2018b, 2019
19 KARADAŞ 2012, 2014a, 2014b; KAYAN – ÖNER 2013
20 DERİN 2007a, 2007b, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013a, 2015
21 DERİN 2013b
22 AKBULUT 2011; KARADAŞ 2014a, 2014b
23 KAYAN 2012, 2018
24 KARADAŞ 2012, 2014a, 2014b; KARADAŞ et al. 2019a; KAYAN – ÖNER 2013; ÖNER et al. 2018a, 2019b
25 BAKIR et al 2000
26 ERKANAL 2014
27 ERSOY 1993
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