Toward Systematic Underwater Survey of Mediterranean Maritime Activity along the Southern Turkish Coast

ABSTRACT This study offers a methodology for field survey and analysis of artifact-rich contexts in near-shore waters. Faced with mixed deposition of fragmentary ceramics and other materials along the tectonically active southern Turkish coast at Kekova Adası, we combined rapid artifact counts, in situ object documentation, large-area photogrammetry, and selective artifact sampling. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of published shipwrecks and anchorages, as well as onshore port assemblages throughout the area, facilitate comparison with these mixed maritime remains at Kekova Adası, allowing signatures to be distinguished among different depositional contexts, from transshipment and anchoring to harbor tasks and local consumption. The approach provides a framework to evaluate more systematically the underwater survey finds from complex and disturbed contexts and to analyze a broader range of often-overlooked archaeological data in the study of the many maritime activities and interactions that marked the coastal waters of the ancient Mediterranean.