Bathonea excavations shed light on Istanbul’s history

The Bathonea excavations that have been continuing in the Küçükçekmece lake basin for five years fill a gap in Istanbul’s chronology by revealing traces from 2,000 B.C.

The head of the excavations, Associate Professor Şengül Aydıngün said the first years were spent on cleaning, researching, mapping and geophysical work, while diggings started as of 2011-2012.

Aydıngün said the ancient ports and a lighthouse that were found during the first years proved that the region was a big port. “Walls, long roads to the sea, avenues and docks were found on the coasts,” she said.

Aydıngün said large structures, squares, churches and a palace complex became evident over time, and the excavation team had reached a large cistern on which names like Konstantin and Konstans were written. The cistern is believed to have dated back to the Byzantine era.

She said they were particularly excited when they found Hittite statuettes from as far back as 2,000 B.C., as well as ceramic pieces from the same period.

“With the early Hittite findings, we found contemporary Cypriot ceramics in small pieces. We now think Istanbul was livelier than we had thought back in the beginning of 2,000 B.C. We also see the traces of international maritime trade staring from this period. Further data will clarify this,” she said.

Aydıngün added that teams from universities in Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Poland have joined the excavations so far, including architects, geologists, marine scientists, anthropologists and geophysicists, as well as archaeologists.

Thousands of pieces to be assembled

This year’s works at the site are focused on laboratory work, rather than in the excavations field. “We...