Rare Opportunity to Hear about Excavation of Ancient Port of Constantinople

Shipwrecks project director from Istanbul presents firsthand account about the recent excavations of the ancient Harbor of Theodosius.
The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh presents a rare opportunity to hear firsthand about the 2004 discovery and subsequent excavation of the ancient Harbor of Theodosius, the principal port of Byzantium or Constantinople, in present-day Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Ufuk Kocabas, Director of Istanbul University’s Department of Marine Archeology and the Yenikapi Shipwrecks Project, will present a lecture and question-and-answer session about the archaeological findings of the ancient harbor beneath the modern Yenikapi neighborhood of Istanbul on Thursday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the museum. A reception begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Kocabas’ two-week lecture tour, his first in the United States, will begin at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and include stops in North Carolina, Texas and California before concluding with his final lecture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Built in the late 4th century during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395 C.E.), the harbor served as the city’s major point of trade in Late Antiquity. In 2004 workers discovered the silted-up remains of the harbor while tunneling under the Bosphorus River for a rail link between Europe and Asia. Archaeologists have uncovered traces of the city wall of Constantine the Great and the remains of 36 Byzantine ships dating from the 7th to the 10th centuries. The Yenikapi site covers the equivalent of 10 Istanbul city blocks and has yielded approximately 35,000 artifacts spanning nearly 10,000 years of occupation.

“This is unquestionably one of the most important archaeological finds in the last 100 years,” said Joseph Schwarzer II, Director of the N.C. Maritime Museums System. “This has changed, and will continue to change, our understanding of Byzantine history.” The remains of the 36 ships — brick transport vessels, cargo boats, small lighters, and naval galleys — have revolutionized our understanding of ship construction and maritime trade.

Gold coins, jewels, 8,500-year-old skeletons, human skulls, animal bones, and clay amphorae for wine and oil are among the artifacts uncovered at the Yenikapi site. In addition, items fashioned of ivory, bronze, marble, porcelain and finely wrought wood have been recovered, as well as stone tools, iron anchors, and a basket of 1,200-year-old cherries. The artifacts are undergoing study, conservation, preservation and interpretation. As one worker at the Yenikapi site stated, “It’s what nautical archaeologists live for.”

Dr. Elizabeth Shelton, a former U.S. Consul in Adana, Turkey, who is currently the Executive Director of the American Friends of Turkey in Washington, D.C., will also be a special guest at the March 1 program.

For more information about the museum, go to www.ncmuseumofhistory.org or call 919-807-7900. To learn more about the Yenikapi project, visit http://tinyurl.com/87gjjda.

About the N.C. Museum of History

The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton Street, across from the State Capitol. Parking is available in the lot across Wilmington Street. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The Museum of History, within the Division of State History Museums, is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/december-2011/article/rare-opportunity-to-hear-about-excavation-of-ancient-port-of-constantinople