Turkish scientist Prof. Dr. Cemal Pulak announced that the sunken city of Atlantis, one of the world's greatest legends, could be right under Turkey's nose.

Turkish scientist Prof. Dr. Cemal Pulak announced that studies on the underwater archaeological map of Turkey are being carried out. Stating that two different groups are working on maps that determine Turkey's underwater riches, Pulak said, "These studies cannot be shared openly against the risk of looting of the shipwrecks. For this reason, a regional study is being carried out,” he said.

Oğuz Aydemir TINA Foundation Chairman of the Board, Caroline N Koç TINA Foundation Founding Member and Koç Holding Board Member, TINA  Foundation Sypmosium Science Committee Chairman Retired Admiral Metin Ataç made the opening speeches at the International Mustafa V. Koç Underwater Archeology Symposium held at the Anatolian Civilizations Research Center (ANAMED) at Koç University on June 16 - 17. Prof. from Texas A&M University Marine Archeology Institute of the USA. Dr. Cemal Pulak speaking at the symposium, made a statement to DHA regarding the developments in Turkish underwater archeology.

TREASURE HUNTERS UNDER THE SEA

Stating that they are being faced with the plunder of treasure hunters underwater as on land, Pulak said, “Although plundering underwater is more difficult, it is certain. An archaeological remains unearthed under water has no value on its own. The location of these remains and their untouched state inform us archaeologists. Apart from that, trolls also cause a lot of damage to archaeological wrecks. The shipwrecks and amphorae that we saw as a pile 30-40 years ago are gone today as a result of the trolls breaking them up. As a result of the increase in tourism in the bays, there are great damages caused by the anchoring of ships and boats. Therefore, underwater archaeological remains should be documented as much as possible and brought to the scientific world.

IF WRECKS ARE OPENED TO DIVING TOURISM, WILL BE AVAILABLE TO BE ROBBED

Adding that underwater archeology tourism may have its own drawbacks, Pulak said, “It is not always possible to follow some rules in Turkey. This also applies underwater. If the shipwrecks are opened to diving tourism, they become suitable for being robbed. There are also those who say that guided dives can prevent this plunder. However, there is a great competition even among groups engaged in diving tourism in Turkey. While some groups protect these wrecks, some change their price policy because they see this as a gain. This situation can cause the team protecting that area to become unemployed and the wrecks to become strayed and robbed. For this reason, it is very difficult to establish a control mechanism after the shipwrecks are opened to tourism. However, sunken ships that were sunk after the 2nd World War or in later periods should be opened to tourism because they have no archaeological value. There are examples of this in Turkey," he said.

TSUNAMI EFFECT ON YENİKAPI WRECKS

Stating that there was a tsunami effect in the 6th century shipwrecks found in Yenikapı, Pulak said, “37 shipwrecks were excavated in Yenikapı, Istanbul. We dug 8 of them. The history of those shipwrecks goes from the 5th century to the 10th century. It is estimated that several shipwrecks corresponding to the 6th century were damaged by the tsunami effect. There is a tsunami and it can affect civilizations. Although it is difficult to determine with certainty, in the samples taken from Yenikapı, we see that small-celled foraminifera, which should be found in the open sea, were found in the harbor. It could only have come with a strong wave. There is a tsunami, but therefore it is not certain whether there is a sunken ship or not,” he said.

“THE LEGEND OF ATLANTIS MAY HAVE A REALITY EVEN IF IT HAS LITTLE PART OF SPARK”

Stating that Atlantis is a legend, Pulak said, “But every legend has a share of truth, even if it is as much as a spark. There may be many coastal cities damaged as a result of the tsunami. Maybe Atlantis is one of them. Some researchers think that Atlantis was a settlement on the Greek island of Santorini. Because it is thought to be the largest known explosions there, and studies are still being carried out on it. The exact date is also unknown. We know that the island was damaged as a result of a huge explosion at the end of the 17th century. The effects of this go as far as Anatolian coasts, Egypt Alexandria and even Eastern Anatolia. As a result, it is an archaeological fact that a civilization was destroyed in Santorini as a result of this big explosion. However, we do not know whether this is Atlantis or not," he said.

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“WE DIVED 25 THOUSAND TIMES TO ULUBURUN WRECK IN 11 YEARS”

It is located near Kas and BC. Stating that they carried out excavations in the Uluburun Shipwreck, dated to the end of the 14th century, between 1984-1995, Prof. Dr. Cemal Pulak said, “We have dived into this wreck every summer for 11 years. We have done 25 thousand dives in total. Of these, 22,500 were work dives on the wreck. As far as I know, it was the deepest wreck ever excavated continuously for 11 years. There are bound to be parts that have been overlooked. But when we left the region at the end of the 11th year, we did not see a missing piece. Now 28 years have passed and we continue to assemble tens of thousands of pieces and we see that some pieces are missing. We don't know if these pieces were taken or overlooked. Because Uluburun Shipwreck is located on an inclination of 30 degrees. Its depth can go up to 62-63 meters. There may be depths we cannot reach, we do not know. We are currently in the evaluation phase of the wreck.”

“WE KNOW THAT THERE IS AN UNDEFINED GLASSHOUSE IN EGYPT”

Expressing that they encountered new findings during the evaluation phase of Uluburun Shipwreck, Prof. Dr. Cemal Pulak said, “Recently, we have made scientific publications on new developments in the shipwreck. For example, there is 1 ton of tin ingot on the wreck. These ingots from the shipwreck appear to be the oldest tin ingots in the world. As a result of our analysis, we determined that some of the tin ingots were obtained from the Southeast Taurus Mountains and some of them were brought from Central Asia, a region very far from the Mediterranean. On the other hand, there are around 200 glass ingots in the wreck. Of course, not all of them are well preserved. As a result of our studies on the preserved ones, we determined that these glass ingots came from Egypt. Although there are known glasshouses of the same period in Egypt, we came across a very different example from the glass of those glasshouses. That's why we know that there must be an undiscovered glass house in Egypt today. We also discovered how glass was made in ancient times as a result of these studies. In this period, glass is obtained by going through 3 different stages. At first, the melted glass is beaten into sand and the coloring process is carried out. In this sense, glass emerges as one of the first artificial materials made by human beings.”

Ebony Logs from Africa Ostrich Eggs from the Sinai Desert…

Stating that they determined that the materials found in the sunken ship in Uluburun came from different geographies of the world, Pulak said, “For example, ebony logs from Africa, ostrich eggs from the Sinai Desert, ivory from Syria, hippopotamus teeth from Israel are other materials we found in the shipwreck. Thus, we also have information about the trade network at that age.”

Who is Cemal Pulak?

Frederick R. Mayer Faculty Professor of Nautical Archaeology and Nautical Archaeology Program Coordinator.

Since 1994 has been the Vice President and Director of Research in Turkey of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. He received his degrees from Bosporus University in Istanbul (B.S. and M.S.) and Texas A&M University (M.A. and Ph.D.).  He is Director of excavations of the Yenikapi Byzantine Shipwrecks at Istanbul, the Sultan’s Galley (Kadirga) Project at the Istanbul Naval Museum, and the Uluburun Bronze Age Shipwreck Research and Conservation, Turkey.  

Levent Aslan

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