Redating the formation of Lake Bafa, western Turkey: Integrative geoarchaeological methods and new environmental and dating evidence

The ancient Gulf of Latmos is an iconic example of a dynamic landscape and humankind's historical relationship with it. Using extensive new primary data and original models for calibrating radiocarbon dates in transitional lagoon environments, we demonstrate that Lake Bafa (or Bafa Gölü, in Turkish) formed at a much earlier date than previously thought. In questioning the logical process by which previous dates were achieved, we re‐examine the relationship between sedimentological data, archaeology and written history. We reassert the need to establish independently dated environmental data sets as the foundation of regional studies as distinct from archaeological and historical interpretive processes. We conclude that Lake Bafa slowly transitioned to become an isolated lagoon sometime between the end of the second millennium B.C. and end of the first millennium B.C.; becoming a fully closed brackish lake during the second millennium A.D. This marks a major shift in our understanding of the nature of human occupation and activity here during the last four millennia but also in the way we date ancient lagoons and integrate historical and environmental data in general

Life cycle of estuarine islands — From the formation to the landlocking of former islands in the environs of Miletos and Ephesos in western Asia Minor (Turkey)

The focus of this article is to link historical accounts about former islands of the Anatolian gulfs of the Aegean Sea to geoarchaeological evidence. During the Holocene, prominent environmental and coastline changes have taken place in many tectonic grabens of western Asia Minor, today's Turkey. The Büyük and the Küçük Menderes fault systems are excellent examples for deciphering these changes. Since mid-Holocene times, the eponymous rivers have advanced their deltas, silting up marine embayments which had once reached inland for tens of kilometres. To describe this terrestrial–marine–terrestrial evolution of estuarine islands we coin the term “life cycle of estuarine islands”. Besides other factors, such as natural erosion, sea-level changes, and tectonic activities, the delta progradation was mainly governed by riverine sediment load, which, in turn, was to a great extent dependent on human impact on the vegetation cover of the drainage basins. Based on historical accounts as well as modern geoarchaeological research it is possible to reconstruct the spatio-temporal evolution of the landscape. For Miletos and the Büyük Menderes (Maiandros, Maeander) graben, remarkable transformations have been revealed: the metamorphosis of the marine gulf into residual lakes (Lake Azap, Lake Bafa), the landlocking of islands (Hybanda, Lade, Asteria, Nergiz Tepe), the transition of the Milesian archipelago to a peninsula and finally to a part of the floodplain. A dramatic effect of the ongoing accumulation of fine-grained sediments was the siltation of harbours – a major reason for the decline of the once flourishing coastal cities of Myous, Priene, Herakleia, and finally Miletos, today some 8 km inland. For Ephesos and the Küçük Menderes (Kaystros) graben, the research focused on the former island of Syrie. Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, c. CE 77) attributed the landlocking of Syrie to the Kaystros River – a scenario which has been verified by our geoarchaeological research and 14C–dated to the 5th century BC. The local foundation myth according to which an island, presumably Syrie, was the location of the first settlement of immigrants from the Greek mainland in the 11th century BCE can neither be proven nor disproven for lack of archaeological evidence. The delta advance was the main reason why the settlement sites and the harbours of Ephesos were relocated several times from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages. © 2016 The Author

On the geoarchaeology of Limyra (SW Anatolia)-new insights into the famous Lycian city and its environs

Geoarchives in ancient settlement sites and their environs bear valuable information about Holocene landscape evolution and human-environment interactions. During the last six millennia, sea-level and coastline changes have had a significant impact on coastal settlements, some of which even had to be relocated. This paper reveals new insights into the spatio-temporal development of the Lycian city of Limyra. Selected sediment cores were analyzed using a multiproxy approach, combining sedimentology, geochemistry, micropaleontology, and C-14 dating. When the postglacial sea-level rise decelerated, a coastal barrier and a deep lake, presumably a lagoon, evolved after the mid-Holocene. The siltation history of the lake is complex: three coastal peat layers (mid-4th millennium BC, end of 3rd/beginning of 2nd millennium BC, beginning of 1st millennium BC), indicate periods of semiterrestrial conditions. That they are sandwiched by lake sediments is consistent with new expansion phases of the lake, most likely triggered by coseismic subsidence. There is evidence of a former lakeshore, dated to between 1400 and 1100 BC, with an intentionally deposited layer of anthropogenic remains, now at 5.5 m below the surface. In the mid-1st millennium BC, the lake silted up, river channels evolved, and people started to settle the area of the later city of Limyra

New Geosite Candidates at the Western Termination of the Büyük Menderes Graben and their Importance on Science Education

The Buyuk Menderes Graben (BMG) is one of the best-known and the largest geological structure of the West Anatolian Extensional Province. It includes two nature conservation parks and twelve cultural heritage sites within and in its vicinity. Four geologically distinct features/locations within and in the vicinity of the BMG have been previously enlisted as geosite candidates in the provisional Geological Heritage Inventory of Turkey compiled in 2002 by the Turkish Association for the Conservation of the Geological Heritage (JEMRKO): (1) the horst-graben structure of the Buyuk Menderes region itself, (2) the tafoni from the augen-gneiss from the east of Bafa Lake, (3) the zultanite crystals from the northeast of lbir Mountain, and (4) the tourmaline (dravite) crystals from the Camzal, Cine. In the current study, we are introducing additional three new geosite candidates at the western termination of the BMG with three different main geological subjects. The first one is the Yavansu Fault. Located 2 km south of the Kuadas village, it has a clearly exposed unique fault surface which is one of the best examples of structural indicators for the WAEP with respect to the normal faulting events. The second one is located in the Hisartepe Volcanics exposed between Kuadas and Soke, and consists of basaltic lava flows with remarkable prismatic cooling joints and a gorgeous feeder dome reaching up to 150 m height. Final suggestion is the Karina marine fan-delta complex located at the south-eastern border of the Dilek Peninsula National Park. This fan-delta complex is the largest one in the Western Anatolian scale and has remarkable paragon outcrops up to 20 m high between Doanbey and Karina Lagoon