ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNDERWATER SURVEY ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SHORES

Underwater archaeological surveys along the coastline in the provinces of Antalya, Mersin, Adana and Hatay have been going on since 2000 with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The surveys, which were jointly carried out by the Mediterranean Civilizations Research Institute/Mediterranean Underwater Cultural Heritage Research Department team of Akdeniz University using the Archaeological Scientific Research and Excavation Ship (Arkeo). Beside numerous anchors and other various remains, a total of 282 shipwrecks -211 along Antalya’s coastline, 65 along Mersin’s coastline, 4 along Hatay’s coastline and 2 along Adana’s coastline- were identified. Cultural heritage items including wrecks and other archaeological properties were identified by exploring natural or man-made harbours, capes, shallow areas and islets. There are areas still not yet explored on the 1.577 km.-long Mediterranean coastline of Turkey. With the advancement of technology, previously surveyed areas were surveyed again, thus identifying new wrecks and remains not noticed before. The work was realized together with the participation of Akdeniz University Department Mediterranean Underwater Heritage Research master’s students and students from partner universities of UNESCO UniTwin Underwater Archaeology Network by using the Arkeo scientific research ship and various land and marine vehicles were also utilised. We used high-tech equipment including Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV), Dual Beam Sonar, Side Scan Sonar, Mag¬netometer, underwater communication systems, and camera systems which is connected to the ship. Therefore, more comprehensive results were obtained in compari¬son to standard underwater research methods.