Context Pottery of the Boğsak Archaeological Survey: Processed Ceramics, 2015-2021. Data from all sites

<p>Under the direction of Dr. Günder Varinlioğlu of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul Turkey, the Boğsak Archaeological Survey Project has been ongoing since 2010. The survey team was investigating a small, minimally inhabited islandscape on the south Anatolian coast (Silifke district / Mersin province). The significance of this region arises less from its immediate history than it does from its situation straddling crucial sea lanes to important nearby places. Approximately 18 km southwest of modern day Silifke (ancient Seleucia on the Calycadnus), the survey region incorporates several small, yet, significant archaeological sites, including İncekum (perhaps ancient <i>Ağa Limanı</i>), Boğsak (ancient <i>Limen Nesoulion), </i>Boğsak Island (<i>Asteria</i> and <i>Akra Epinesia</i>), Tahta Limanı (perhaps ancient <i>Palaia</i>), Dana Island (ancient <i>Pityoussa</i>), and Ovacık (ancient Aphrodisias). Despite the barrenness and isolation of this islandscape, it remains noteworthy for two recurring features: an array of fortified complexes that date to Pre-Roman eras and a cluster of dense-packed settlements of Late Antiquity. There is minimal evidence of settlement in between, suggesting that the pattern here conforms with the model of rollercoaster demographics (Bevan and Conolly 2013). Roller-coaster demographics has been used to explain the recurrent pattern of temporary settlement followed by relative abandonment at remote Mediterranean islands of limited carrying capacity. This comparatively discontinuous record of human activity furnishes a less complicated palimpsest than settlements characterized by sustained occupation, thus, affording potentially greater clarity for those eras when wider connections and commensurate geopolitical and economic linkages transpired.</p>

<p>This collection of processed ceramics and artifactual remains results from systematic pedestrian surveys conducted at Boğsak Island (2015 and 2016/17), Dana Island (2016-2019), Aphrodisias (2017-2019), and Tahta Limani (2016-17). The pedestrian surveys were directed by Nicholas Rauh (Purdue U.) and Noah Kaye (Michigan State U.). The linked datasets display more than 3500 fragments of processed ceramics, glass, metal, and stone encountered at these sites. Each dataset includes identifications, descriptions, measurements, and images of the remains as well as location information including survey transect, unit, and georeferenced find locations. This dataset contains data that have been previously published in datasets that focused on individual sites and no images. The chronotypes and other classification categories were reviewed and remediated or corrected when necessary before publication.</p>