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Archeological Assessment of Two Naval Battlefields in Çeşme and Sinop, Turkey

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Abstract

A marine survey was conducted to reveal the maritime cultural heritage of the naval battlefields of Çeşme (1770) and Sinop (1853). The seafloor of the battle sites was mapped using a high-resolution side-scan sonar revealing the location of shipwreck remains and some potential sites of interest. The findings associated with the battles were identified by comparing their locations with historical charts and documents. Sonar imaging indicated that this cultural heritage has been heavily damaged by modern fishing and anchoring activities, as well as by natural sedimentation. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combined archeology, history, and geophysics, these two lesser known naval battlefields were studied scientifically for the first time as maritime cultural heritage sites and a preliminary interpretation of the findings is presented in this paper. Aside from their historical importance, these battlefields have great archeological value, because they harbor the last known samples of warships from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries located on Turkish coasts. Considering that these rare cultural material remains are under threat, new regulations were suggested for both their protection and management and the site was brought to the attention of the authorities.

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Acknowledgements

This survey was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism; the Ministry of Development (Project No. 2014H040080); the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK, Project No. 104K095), the Sinop Museum, and the Faculty of Fisheries of Sinop University, and the Turkish Foundation for Underwater Archaeology (TINA). The authors would like to special thank Museum Director Hüseyin Vural for his contribution to survey; Yaşar Tarakçı for assisting with our survey and showing us the presumed locations of two wreck sites in Sinop; and Tuba Ekmekçi for providing research opportunities at the library of Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA). Thanks also to team members Cebrail Baydan and İrfan Yıldız who helped data collection, Captain Fatih Türküstün for providing information for Çeşme survey, Dr. Cemal Pulak for his valuable comments and all the other contributing institutions. We would also like to thank the reviewers and editor for their constructive suggestions and comments that improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology, Dokuz Eylül University, Haydar Aliyev Boulevard, Nr: 100, Inciralti, 35340, Izmir, Turkey

    Harun Özdaş & Nilhan Kızıldağ

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  1. Harun Özdaş
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  2. Nilhan Kızıldağ
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Correspondence to Nilhan Kızıldağ.

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Özdaş, H., Kızıldağ, N. Archeological Assessment of Two Naval Battlefields in Çeşme and Sinop, Turkey. J Mari Arch 15, 365–392 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09263-z

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