Preliminary Survey and Core Sampling on the Aegean Coast of Turkey

Extract

This survey was planned with the help of the Human Environment Department of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Fieldwork was carried out with the help of: Bayan Asuman Güngör, the government representative (from Türk İslam Müzesi, Yeşil-Bursa). We also welcomed two visitors from Ege Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi: Mr. Kirami Ölgen (geomorphologist and research assistant of Prof, İlhan Kayan, Coğrafya Bölümü) and Dr. Halime Hüryılmaz, (archaeologist, Klasik Arkeoloji Anabilim Dalı), who came to Altınova and provided invaluable expertise. We were also greatly assisted throughout by the advice and involvement of Prof, İlhan Kayan himself before, during and after the coring. Initial analysis of the core samples was carried out at their laboratory at Ege by Prof. Kayan and Mr. Ölgen. The latter also sampled the cores and prepared the chart of the bore-hole findings. Finance was again generously provided by the BIAA and the CRF of London University. Fieldwork took place between 30th October and 8th November 1991.

The aim of the survey was to study the geomorphological evolution of the Madra Çay delta and to learn more about the palaeo-environmental history of a mound located on the delta, as part of a study of prehistoric coastal settlement on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Adaptation to the environment is regarded as one of the four functional criteria of cultural systems and we wanted to find out which of the various different phases in the changing environment of the delta had attracted human occupation.