The 2016 Dana Island Survey Investigation of an Island Harbor in Ancient Rough Cilicia by the Bogsak Archaeological Survey

Abstract

Under investigation for the past seven years, the Tasucu Gulf and its hinterland, the region of the Bogsak Archaeolgical Survey (BOGA; www.bogsakarchaeology.org) was a small, minimally inhabited frontier zone of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean world (fig. 1). The limited evidence for urban settlements along this rugged 20 km stretch of coastal terrain was likely the result of the region's topography, offshore winds, and currents. Approximately 18 km southwest of modernday Siliflce (ancient Seleucia-on-the-Calycadnus), the shoreline turns decidedly mountainous. A 16 km-long coastal ridge closes off the interior from Bogsak in the northeast to Yesilovacik in the southwest. This towering wall offers only two clear passages to the interior the small bay at Tahta Limani and the larger bay at Yesilovacik and a few additional sheltered anchorages.