Research and Projects

Holocene coastal geomorphic and paleoenvironmental evolution of the
Akliman Valley and Sarikum Lake, Sinop area, Black Sea coast of Turkey

The focus of the Akliman Valley project was to reconstruct the paleogeography and paleoenvironments of this coastal river valley over the Late Holocene. The valley, located just west of the Sinop (Turkey), has a flat alluvial bottom flanked by bedrock topography (clicking this link will open a Google Maps page showing the valley location). During the summers of 1998 and 1999, we obtained 15 sediment cores up to 12 meters length from the valley bottom using an Eijkelkamp gouge auger. Based on that work and results from sedimentary and microfossil analyses, we have reconstructed the relative sequence of geomorphic evolution in the valley. We have not yet obtained C-14 dates to provide absolute calendar ages for the sequence, but have plenty of organic material to make this possible in the future.

This project was a component of the Black Sea Trade Project (BSTP), an interdisciplinary archaeological study of trade systems in the Black Sea over the past 5,000 years, and their effects on local cultures and economies. The BSTP was directed by Fredrik T. Hiebert while he was at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. There is not website for the BSTP as it has morphed into some new projects, but Fred provides some details about it in a 2001 article published in the Museum's Expedition magazine.

The highest profile component of BSTP was the underwater program directed by Robert Ballard at the Mystic Aquarium's Institute for Exploration, and David Mindell at MIT's Deep Water Archaeology Research Group. Among other things, they were investigating the well-known Ryan and Pitman theory that the myth of Noah's Flood is related to a possible catastrophic real flooding event in the Black Sea about 7600 years ago. The Institute for Exploration has a small blurb about this work online with more available about recent work on their Expeditions webpage.

A component of the BSTP has morped into the Sinop Regional Archaeological Project, which is directed by Owen Doonan of the Department of Art at California State University, Northridge, and Alex Bauer of the Department of Anthropology at Queens College of CUNY. We reiniated some geomorphic and paleoenvironmental work with this group in summer 2010 at Sarikum Gölu, a coastal lake on the western side of the the Sinop promontory (clicking this link will open a Google Maps page showing the lake location). We obtained a nice transect of sediment cores using a Livingstone piston corer, and Gene Scotch and Jael Sprinkle are working up the basic physical sedimentology of these cores here in the lab.

Here are some interesting pictures and figures related to the Akliman Valley and Sarikum Gölu work.

Map of the Black Sea region with Sinop and the Akliman Valley	Akliman Valley sediment core locations and depths	Mega-panorama view of the Akliman Valley looking from the ESE towards the WNW	North side of Sinop peninsula "neck"
Rice paddy cultivation on the flat alluvial bottom of the Akliman Valley	More rice paddy cultivation on the flat alluvial bottom of the Akliman Valley; the trees at the left mark the course of the Karasu River	The Aksaz saligi—a former marine embayment at the northwest edge of the Akliman Valley	Archaeologists doing geology—the Eijkelkamp gouge auger in action; from left to right Alex Bauer, Alex Gantos, Owen Doonan, and Aylin Tuncer (behind Owen)

Animation showing the relative sequence of geomorphic evolution in the Akliman Valley;
absolute calendar ages can be applied when radiocarbon dates are obtained

Vegetation at the edge of Sarikum Gölu	View of the large, marshy embayment to the southwest of Sarikum Gölu	The outlet channel of Sarikum Gölu with a view to the southeast back towards the lake	The outlet channel of Sarikum Gölu with a view to the northwest out to the Black Sea
Gene Scotch, Aksel Casson, and Matthew Conrad working to construct the coring platform/raft	The coring platform/raft (upside down) right before launch	The Sarikum "flotilla"; the lake is a protected area, and motors are not allowed	Coring break time—Gene Scotch on deck, and Antonia Santangelo in the paddle boat
Transect of 2010 coring locations in Sarikum Gölu from the lake center towards the perimeter	A reality of working in the Turkish countryside; this sheep just didn't want to move, and needed some coaxing from Gene Scotch	A beautiful threshing sled in Sarikum village with most of the chert blades still present	Gene Scotch making a presentation about his fieldwork to the TAMUCC Summer Session II 2010 "Discover Istanbul" Core Curriculum Abroad Program