A RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE NEOLITHIC TREE REMAINS UNEARTHED FROM
THE YENIKAPI EXCAVATION SITE IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Dogu Dilek1, Kose Coskun 1, Hizal Tirak Kamile 1, Yilgor Nural 1, Kiziltan Zeynep 2
1
Forestry Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey, addogu@istanbul.edu.tr,
ckose@istanbul.edu.tr, ktirak@istanbul.edu.tr, yilgorn@istanbul.edu.tr; 2 Archeological Museums
of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, zeynep.kiziltan@hotmail.com
During the excavations of the Marmaray Rail Tube Tunnel Project in Yenikapi, Istanbul,
Turkey, countless the Byzantine and Ottoman period archaeological remains, an ancient Byzantine
Port, Istanbul’s oldest city wall, a Byzantine Church, a large number of sunken ships and
thousands of findings were unearthed during excavations at the Yenikapi site. With the progress of
the archeological excavations, important findings that will shed light on the history of Istanbul
were encountered. A great number of Neolithic period tree remains that took place upright position
and connected to the soil with their roots were also found from 8.5 m below the sea level during
the excavations of the bog realized for the first time in Turkey (Fig. 1). A research project has been
recently started to identify the wood species and evaluate in detail some properties and wood
structure of tree remains. This paper will give a brief introduction of the project on the wood
samples from Neolithic period. In the project, macroscopic properties, water content, and density
in volume were determined in the wood samples. Nearly twenty wood species were identified as
Fraxinus spp. Detailed examinations are in progress to evaluate the anatomical, chemical and
microbiological properties of the wood samples. In the project, anatomical wood properties will be
determined for identification of the tree species.
Microscopic investigations on stained and unstained
sections to detect cellulose and lignin, solubility
analyses to determine extractives content, ash
content and elemental analysis with SEM-EDX will
be also carried out to determine chemical properties.
The identification of wood remains can provide
information about wood species grown in that area,
life conditions of the people lived during that period,
purpose of the using of trees, as well as the
prevalent climate conditions in the region. Microbiological
and chemical investigations by microscopic
Fig. 1 Neolithic tree remains
methods are expected to give valuable information
on the type and degree of microbial degradation occurred likely in the wood specimens unearthed.
The results of the project will shed important light on the science of archaeology, history, wood
anatomy, mycology,
wood chemistry, wood conservation and climatology.
remains remains
Key words: Archaeological wood; Neolithic age, Ultrastructural wood anatomy