Bathonea excavations aim to shed light on historic Istanbul quakes

Archaeological excavations carried out on the coast of the Küçükçekmece Lake in Istanbul's Avcılar district by Kocaeli University aim to shed light on the history of earthquakes in Istanbul. 

Within the scope of excavations at the Bathonea ancient site, ongoing for over six years, traces of earthquakes are being examined under the chairmanship of Professor Şerif Barış, the head of Kocaeli University's Earth and Space Sciences Research Center. 

Barış said they could see the dimensions of underground cities, their roads and structures thanks to geophysical methods used in archaeological fields. 

He said collaboration between geologists and archaeologists had accelerated in Turkey since 2008. 

"Collaborating with the head of excavations, Associate Professor Şengül Aydıngün, in an important field like Küçükçekmece will be a very good model for both archaeological and geophysical circles. Such collaborations, namely archaeology and geophysics, are not common in Turkey. Both teams are working hard. We have German partners and I hope we will have very good results," Barış added.

He said they used geophysical technics to discover the structures in ancient cities and to identify damage caused by earthquakes in those cities. 

"During a visit to the excavation field in 2012, we obtained very important information like damage and loss of lives caused by earthquakes at a church, which was unearthed at the beginning of excavations," Barış said. 

"The bones of three bodies were found under the structure, as well as coins from the Justinian era. This showed us that one of the big Istanbul earthquakes, which occurred in 557 AD, also gave great damage to the Hagia Sophia. The foundations of all structures in Küçükçekmece...