‘Blue Heritage Project’ research has been completed

The 2023 underwater research of the ‘Turkish Shipwreck Inventory: Blue Heritage’ project carried out by Dokuz Eylül University (DEU) Underwater Cultural Heritage and Maritime History Application and Research Center (SUDEMER) in Izmir has been completed; 2 new shipwrecks were detected. Thanks to underwater robotic technologies, which are 80 percent local and national, the open sea routes of ancient maritime trade were also revealed.

With the advanced marine technologies used by DEÜ SUDEMER, many shipwrecks were found in deep waters this year. 2 new shipwrecks were discovered within the scope of the 2023 underwater research of the ‘Turkish Shipwreck Inventory: Blue Heritage’ project. Thanks to underwater robotic technologies, the open sea routes of ancient maritime trade were also revealed.

Assoc. Dr. Under the chairmanship of Harun Özdaş, Assoc. Dr. In the project carried out under the vice presidency of Nilhan Kızıldağ; Underwater robotic systems, specially designed and produced with local and national resources, were used. The team, which turned its route to deep waters in 2023, imaged these targets with a remote-controlled underwater robot-ROV technology named ‘Demre’, produced using 80 percent domestic and national technology. With the 2 new shipwrecks discovered, the number of shipwrecks between 85-100 meters in length according to sonar data in the 2023 research has increased to 10. These wrecks entered the literature as the deepest wrecks found in research conducted by a Turkish university using local and national technologies.

“The number of shipwrecks increased to 10”

Giving information about the studies, Assoc. Dr. Harun Özdaş said, “In the research we conducted in Turkey, especially in the Aegean region, the number of shipwrecks has exceeded 350. This number is the number we transferred to the geographical information system in the studies we have done in the last 10 years. In our work in 2023, we turned to deep waters and used high technology here, too. We carried out studies using high technology in deep waters, at depths of 85 to 100 meters, off the coasts of Muğla and Izmir. Since these areas are beyond diving depths, we had to use underwater robotic technology. “With the 2 shipwrecks we found this year with the devices we call ROV, which have been developed as 80 percent local and national technology, the total number of shipwrecks found in the open sea in the north of the Bodrum Peninsula has increased to 10,” he said.

“The wrecks show a period of 800 years”

Assoc. Prof. stated that it was understood that the ship’s remains sank as a result of suddenly changing weather events. Dr. Özdaş said, “The shipwrecks show that the ships leaving the Dilek Strait and Ephesus used the open sea when entering the Bodrum Canal. At the same time, one of the shipwrecks shows that the weather conditions in the north of the Bodrum Peninsula were very harsh. The shipwrecks found here date back to B.C. It shows a period of 800 years, from the 4th century to the 4th century AD. During a period of 800 years, while ships were passing through the open sea, they capsized and sank due to the weather conditions in the open sea.

In the region where it is thought that there was heavy traffic on the ancient north-south maritime trade routes; One of the ruins found at a depth of 85 meters dates back to B.C. It belongs to a merchant ship dating back to the 2nd century. Approximately 200 pointed-handled Rhodes-type amphorae and various kitchen vessels were seen in the shipwreck area. Approximately 2 kilometers away from this shipwreck, another shipwreck dating back to the Roman period of the 47th century AD was discovered. It is understood that the shipwreck’s cargo consisted of approximately 100-150 cylindrical and grooved amphorae. “It was determined that a significant part of the cargo and wood of both shipwrecks were buried in the sandy ground,” he said.

They sank due to harsh weather conditions

Assoc. Prof. said that it is generally accepted that ships cruising along the coast sink by hitting rocks or capes. Dr. Özdaş said, “But in our latest study, we determined that ships were sailing in the open sea in ancient times and sank due to harsh weather conditions. These works are carried out with the permission and support we receive from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In these studies, we use other ships besides the ‘Piri Reis’ ship affiliated with our institute. Dokuz Eylül University Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology is the university that has the highest technology and is actively working in this field in our country, and has also provided the healthiest scientific underwater cultural heritage database. Our university became one of the research universities in 2021. “In this context, we will continue our research by taking a leading role in the field of marine sciences and underwater archeology with our current high technology, sailing to the open seas with the vision of the new century of our Republic,” he said.

“The light system can provide ambient lighting”

Explaining that they work with students and faculty members from many different branches of science, Assoc. Dr. Özdaş said, “We carry out our work with a team of 15 people from different disciplines, including geophysics, marine geophysics, marine biology, history, Ottoman history, archaeology and underwater archaeology. Our university is considered the most advanced, high-tech university in this field in our country in terms of current technology in the research university concept. In this context, we can detect depths of up to 200 meters with the photogrammetric recording system in our ROV device, which already has an autopilot system.

But the other technology we have can reach up to 1000 meters. First of all, we record these spots and anomalies that we detect with sonar in deep waters with this technology. The most important feature is not only this recording system; also the light system. Because light disappears after a certain depth under water. The light system in our ROV device, which is made with 80 percent local and national technology, can provide very accurate recording as it can provide ambient lighting. “Among the team members of the 2023 research were İrfan Yıldız, Samet Harmandar, Güngör Muhtaroğlu, Selman Kahraman, Mustafa Cengiz, Deniz Can, Kadir İmal, İrem Ayvaz, Tansel Cuci and Harun Can, and Ministry Representative Tayfun Ok and İlknur Subaşı,” he said.