Deepwater Archaeology of the Black Sea: The 2000 Season at Sinop, Turkey

Abstract

In 2000, a major expedition for deepwater archaeology was conducted by the Institute for Exploration in the Black Sea along the northwestern coast of Turkey from the Bosporus to the Turkish seaport of Sinop. A complementary land-based expedition will be reported upon elsewhere. The 2000 underwater expedition had three research objectives: to search for evidence of human habitation prior to major flooding of the Black Sea that researchers predicted occurred some 7,500 years ago; to investigate a deepwater shipping route; and to search for ancient wooden ships in the sea's anoxic bottom waters. Research methods included the use of a phased-array side-scan sonar, a towed imaging sled, and a small remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to collect deep-sea survey data. Three shipwrecks and a probable site reflecting human habitation prior to the proposed flooding event were located at depths around 100 m. One additional shipwreck was found within the anoxic layer at a depth of 324 m. The ship found within the anoxic layer was intact, in a high state of preservation, and dated to the Byzantine period of 450 A.D.