Page 85 - TINA Dergi Sayi 08

TINA

Maritime Archaeology Periodical

Antalya Museum (director Mustafa Demirel) held
the permit, with the participation of the Bodrum Mu-
seum of Underwater Archaeology (director Yaşar
Yıldız). In the course of 944 dives (709 hours of bot-
tom time) divers recovered 350 “lots” (separately cat-
alogued items) of artefacts, mostly metal objects and
ceramics.
The author and her INA colleagues at the Bodrum
Research Center (especially Esra Altınanıt Biçer)
have spent the seven years since then locating, cat-
aloguing, and commencing a program of conserva-
tion of all objects recovered from the seabed over the
fifty years (1960-2010) of work at Cape Gelidonya.
This has proved unexpectedly challenging for over
time the objects became dispersed through the many
storerooms, basements, nooks, and crannies of the
crusader castle that houses the Bodrum Museum of
Underwater Archaeology. A surprising discovery was
seven crates of ingot fragments recovered from the
seabed in 1960 but only summarily noted in the 1967
publication.
All of these fragments and most of the objects
raised in 1960 are in need of conservation. Many
were conserved to the standards of the time, but six-
ty years later we have better methods. This is espe-
cially true for the metals — weapons, tools, ingots,
ingot fragments. Each object requires desalination, Nicolle Hirschfeld ve Emre Kuruçayırlı 1960 yılında çı-
mechanical cleaning, and, after analytical samples karılmış bakır külçeler üzerinde çalışıyorlar. (Fotoğraf:
have been taken, consolidation. This painstaking and T. E. Littlefield)
time-consuming process is not the most glamorous Nicolle Hirschfeld and Emre Kuruçayırlı study the cop-
aspect of underwater archaeology, but it is the neces- per ingots recovered in 1960. (photo by T. E. Littlefield)
sary and crucial first step before any meaningful anal-
yses of the objects or their dispersal can be undertak- Bronze Age, the new discoveries on the seabed, and
en. Our rate of progress has recently accelerated with recently developed scientific methods of analyses
the hire of a dedicated conservator, Asu Selen Özcan. make a general re-evaluation of the Cape Gelidonya
In the ten months since she first came to the BRC shipwreck necessary. So, for example, in the 1960s
as a volunteer, Selen, who has a degree in fine arts, Bass discussed the ingots primarily in terms of shapes
learned not only the techniques of conservation but and iconography, with some analysis of composition.
also photographic documentation. In her capable and He addressed questions of chronology, typology, and
tireless hands we are now well past halfway through origin. Most of what he wrote still stands but now
the conservation and photography of the ingots and there are techniques that enable us to identify more
ingot fragments. We are currently seeking funding to precise identifications of provenience and ask entire-
extend her hire for another year, which would see us ly new questions about ancient technologies of pro-
through the completion of this task. duction and the logistics of distribution and recycling.
Although Bass published an excellent and exten- We have concentrated first on the analysis of the
sive analysis of the shipwreck in 1967, current under- ingots and ingot fragments, the primary cargo of the
standing of the historical circumstances of the Late ancient ship.
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