Ovacık (Aphrodisias) Archaeological Survey: Processed Ceramics, 2017 through 2019

<p>During the 2017-2019 survey seasons the Bogsak Archaeological Survey Project conducted pedestrian, architectural, and marine survey at the Ovacık peninsula and the ancient site of Aphrodisias in Rough Cilicia (Kaye and Rauh 2020). From the mainland the terrain presents itself as a narrow isthmus, a small island, and a headland where the remains of the site of Aphrodisias are situated. Directly beyond and above these to the south loom the heights of the Ovacık peninsula. The site of Aphrodisias is identifiable on a small knoll at the south end of the isthmus that separates the peninsula of Ovacık from the mainland. Scattered remains of walls and wall blocks are visible, and a Christian church dedicated to St. Pantaleon was excavated by Budde to recover its endangered mosaic (Budde 1987). In the same vicinity at the south end of the isthmus (East Harbor) remains of other churches and structures of the Late Roman era are visible, indicating the existence of a small harbor settlement at that time. At the southwest corner of the isthmus (West Harbor) a dried torrent bed from the interior of the peninsula empties into a small rocky embayement known today as the the Women’s Beach. This sheltered inlet was likewise utilized as a harborage during antiquity, perhaps including service as a Hellenistic naval harbor. The most notable remains of the site are the massive fortification walls that begin at the so-called Women’s Beach and rise up the slope and along the heights of the peninsula.</p>

<p>The Ovacık peninsula presents itself as a broad round tableland (1.7 km across, 300m elevation), its shoreline ruggedly sculpted by steep cliffs and promontories. The interior is scored by dry ravines of eroded drainage channels that converge at a narrow gap at the northwest end of the peninsula to empty into the Women’s Beach as noted above. Today the peninsula is an uninhabited pine forest, protected by the Turkish forestry ministry. Along the crest of the promontory stand the remains of imposing Hellenistic fortifications.</p>

<p>Two walls present themselves on the peninsula, one, the so-called North Wall, at the northern end of the peninsula, 300 m directly above the settlement of Aphrodisias, and a second wall, the South Wall, defending a hidden bay at the southernmost extent of the peninsula. Continued exploration of the second wall reveals that it extended in segments along the western shore of the peninsula, where a stretch of curtain wall runs from the Women’s Beach up the slope to a point near the western end of the North Wall. The long North Wall on the heights above the site of Aphrodisias extends east-west along the entire width of the peninsula, approximately 2.2 km. Topographically, it appears to have been situated to be accessible from the embayment of the Women’s Beach.</p>

<p>The North Wall exhibits some 17 towers (11 x 11m) approximately 100m apart along the length of curtain wall. At least 13 towers were attached to raised platforms or engine stands (11 x 5m), accessed by stone stairways, on their eastern sides. A handfull of towers also display small sally ports (0.6m wide) on their eastern sides. Over all, the height of the curtain wall measures 1.8 m tall and 2.4 m thick. Although repeatedly remodeled, the original masonry technique employed two faces of Hellenistic polygonal masonry employing large blocks dressed with rough quarry face but displaying combed picked edges along their joins, and a rubble stone interior. Joist ledges on the tower interiors indicate that they were two-story structures. The curtain wall and platforms were presumably topped by a dried brick or wooden superstructure, for which no evidence survives. The tower complexes are almost cookie-cutter in design. Although the wall at the southern end of the island (the South Wall) employs a similar polygonal masonry technique and similar dimensions (approximately 2 m tall, 2.2 m thick), its course is less linear and seems to meander below the ridge, adapting to the steep sloping terrain. More importantly, the South Wall lacks towers, apart from one lone tower situated at its eastern extremity. Although its dimensions and design are similar to the tower complexes of the North Wall (7 x 7m, 3m tall, 2.2m thich walls), the masonry is dramatically different. This suggests that it was added to the original curtain wall at a later date. As noted earlier, a stretch of fortification wall with similar construction extends from the Women’ Beach on the northwest side of the peninsula. It too was remodeled with later fortifications of various eras including a massive Late Roman installation directly overlooking the harbor.</p>

<p><strong>The Pedestrian Survey of 2017</strong></p>

<p>To correlate the fortification systems with the settlement history of Aphrodisias, Kaye and Rauh conducted systematic grab collections along the terrain at the south end of the isthmus, including the site of Aphrodisias in 2017. Circular grab units of approximately 30m diameter were designated by Kaye. Four survey walkers conducted grab-collections of diagnostic sherds (including cookwares and representative coarsewares) for approximately 10 minutes. In this manner some 23 units were surveyed, furnishing both temporal data for the settlement as well as sherd densities to identify the approximate site limits for each period.</p>

<p>The survey divided the settlement up into 3 transects: a hill we named “South Tepe” (SU17_010_XXX); the Göktepe, overlooking the East harbor (SU17_011_XXX); and the saddle between (SU17_012_XXX). We also briefly explored the shore north of the West Harbor, on which a few clusters of Late Roman pottery were observed, hinting at some isolated houses or a <i>villa rustica</i>, though no architecture was detected. We documented the East Harbor church and two neighborhoods thick with Late Roman houses, one of which contains a monumental brick building (see map).</p>

<p><b>Aphrodisias / Ovacık Survey Units</b></p>

<p>SU17_010_001, SU17_010_002, SU17_010_003, SU17_010_004, SU17_010_005, SU17_010_006, SU17_010_007, SU17_010_008, SU17_010_009, SU17_010_010, SU17_010_011, SU17_011_001, SU17_011_002, SU17_011_003, SU17_011_004, SU17_011_005, SU17_011_006, SU17_011_007, SU17_011_008, SU17_012_001, SU17_012_002, SU17_012_003, SU17_012_004</p>

<p>In 2018, the architectural team directed by Rauh, Mine Esmer and Nihan Arslan, mapped the extent of the North fortification wall to generate an architectural plan. In 2019, Michael Jones and his students from Koç Universirty conducted a brief snorkel survey of the waters on both sides of the isthmus, focusing particularly on the waters at the Women’s Beach where several sherds were recovered. In all some 871 sherds were processed by the pedestrian team, of which some 508 were temporally diagnostic.</p>

<p>By and large, the ceramic data at Aphrodisias / Ovacık is unique among those of the Boğsak survey for its wealth of Hellenistic ceramic remains, approximately 52% of the 508 datable sherds processed between 2017-2019, followed by Late Roman sherds (40%). We should add that a good percentage of the overall count of processed sherds (508 of 872 or 58%) were datable. Although the inordinate presence of Hellenistic pottery at Aphrodisias contrasts significantly with the ceramic remains of the other investigated sites (Boğsak Is., Dana Is., Tahta Limanı, Temerini), it conforms very well with the Hellenistic era fortification remains on the isthmus. These results led Kaye and Rauh to suggest that the site marks the location known in antiquity as the Sarpedon Point, expressly mentioned as the territorial limit of the Seleucid Empire as determined by the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC (Kaye and Rauh 2018).</p>

<p>Likewise, the high percentage of Late Roman pottery coincides with the remains of churches and harbor structures dating to that era at the south end of the isthmus. Also significant is the fact that while the site flourished during the Hellenistic and Late Roman periods there is minimal evidence of occupation during the preceding Classical and intervening Early Roman eras (13 and 18 sherds respectively). Likewise, the site appears to have been largely abandoned during the Byzantine era (6 sherds). This conforms with a recognized pattern of roller-coaster demographics characteristic of isolated island settlements in the eastern Mediterranean (Bevan et al. 2007).</p>

<p><strong>References</strong></p>

<dl>
<dt style="font-weight: normal;">Bevan et al. 2007</dt>
<dd>A. Bevan, J. Conolly, and A. Tsaravopoulos, The Fragile Communities of Antikythera, Archaeology International 10, 33–34</dd>
<dt style="font-weight: normal;">Budde 1987</dt>
<dd>L. Budde, St. Pantaleon von Aphrodisias in Kilikien, Recklinghausen</dd>
<dt style="font-weight: normal;">Kaye and Rauh 2020</dt>
<dd>N. Kaye and N.K. Rauh, Fortification Systems in Eastern Rough Cilicia from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic Era (1200–27 BC). In W. Held ed., <i>The Transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic Period in the Levant, Cyprus, and Cilicia: Cultural Interruption or Continuity?</i> Marburger Beiträge zur Archäologie, Band 6, 141-166</dd>
</dl>