Subsurface Exploration of Deep-Sea Archaeological Sites

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The abrupt flooding of the Black Sea in 5700 BC submerged wide coastal areas and human settlements. This catastrophic event and the environmental changes it would have caused must have influenced the progress of the agricultural revolution in the Near East and Europe. Apparently well-preserved archaeological sites pre-dating this flooding have recently been identified along the submerged ancient coast of the Black Sea. These underwater sites could shed new light on economic transformations of human society at the time of the spread of agriculture into Europe. Geologic evidence of the rapid infilling of the Black Sea basin received support when an ancient beachline was found during our deep water archaeological survey near Sinop, Turkey in 1999. Bathymetry of the Black Sea floor off the Turkish coast identified a rolling river valley along a 12 mile wide submerged coastal plain. One hundred sonar anomalies (called targets) on the sea floor were identified by sonar and examined by remote video. Of these, four were ancient or historic shipwrecks. One sonar target (no. 82) was identified as a potential site of human habitation on the basis of its distinctive outline and size. Site 82, located under 95 m of water, is composed of large (1 x 1 m) slabs of limestone in a regular rectangular outline in an area 15 x 6 m. Preliminary testing in 2000 indicated that the surface of Site 82 is covered with approximately 7 cm of modern sediment. A sediment sample taken from the site had charcoal, seeds, and an elevated phosphate content consistent with submerged archaeological sites found in other areas of the world. Archaeological investigations are being coordinated at the University of Pennsylvania. The Turkish authorities have granted a permit to further investigate this site in 2003. A grant from the National Science Foundation will allow mapping, sampling and archaeological excavations at this site, well below the depths at which divers can work. The methodologies for robotic excavation are experimental and are being developed in a collaboration between archaeologists, engineers and oceanographers expressly for this project. A new ROV which will have the capabilities to carry out archaeological investigations robotically is being built at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Approximately two weeks will be spent on-site aboard the NSF ship USS Knorr, which is scheduled to be in the Black Sea in July, 2003. The proposed research at Site 82 will include: 1) fine scale mapping (to a resolution of 1 cm), 2) core sampling of sediments on- and off-site, 3) small scale excavation using the robotic vehicle, and 4) conservation of the site and of samples recovered. The submerged Black Sea coast appears to be a uniquely well-preserved Neolithic landscape, unmodified by any subsequent human occupation. Site 82 in its geographic setting offers us unusual potential for understanding the key relationship between human history and environmental change. Results of the investigation at Site 82 should provide detailed information about the ancient economy and culture of the Black Sea region prior to the flooding, The associated oceanographic studies should provide answers to questions concerning the nature and rapidity of environmental change at a critical period in the transformation of societies of the Near East and Europe. The robotic research tools being developed for this investigation will open new possibilities for the study of submerged surfaces, applicable in any shallow or deep water environment.