Dating of oak timbers from Anadolu Hisarı (Anatolian Fortress), İstanbul-Türkiye

Abstract

Anadolu Hisarı, or the Anatolian Fortress, is a prominent historic building located on the Anatolian side of Bosphorus, Istanbul, right across the well-known Rumeli Hisarı (the Rumeli Fortress). The fortress is known to have been built during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan, Yıldırım Bayezid, in 1395. In 2022 during the restoration of the fortress we collected a group of stem discs from six timbers stored in its garden for dendrochronological dating. The timbers were dated to 1395 after standard dendrochronological methods were applied. This result is consistent with the completion dates of the construction, 1395-1396, mentioned in historical records. The part of the walls from which the sampled timbers had been removed are from the original construction and were replaced during the recent restoration work. Our study shows that identifying the exact context of architectural wood removed during restoration of such historical buildings in Istanbul can help identify their original parts and the time of restoration activities that may have taken place in the past.