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Posted on 12/29/2005 11:58:05 AM PST by blam
Traces of tsunami in ancient city of Patara
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Archaeologists claim that an ancient lighthouse located in the ancient city of Patara on Antalya's Mediterranean coast might have been destroyed by a tsunami that hit the region in ancient times.
The ruins of the lighthouse were discovered two years ago during excavations that are still under way in Patara.
Professor Havva Ýþkan Iþýk, head of Akdeniz University's archaeology department, which is conducting studies in the ancient city, said they believed the lighthouse was destroyed by a tsunami since a human skeleton was found among the ruins.
Iþek said the skeleton could belong to a lighthouse keeper who was trying to escape a tsunami but was crushed under the lighthouse's stone blocks.
The excavations in Patara are proceeding under the supervision of Professor Fahri Iþýk, a lecturer at Akdeniz University. His wife, Havva Iþýk, indicated they had come across the skeleton under a mountain of sand.
Noting that they had unearthed what they believe is the oldest lighthouse in the world, Havva Iþýk said a bronze inscription the team discovered indicated that the lighthouse was built by the Roman Emperor Nero between A.D. 64 and 65.
“Likewise, the structural characteristics of the lighthouse demonstrate that it is the oldest lighthouse in the world. Our impressions support the idea that it was destroyed not by an earthquake but by a tsunami. The skeleton we found in the doorway to the lighthouse also points to this idea. Stone blocks resting on top off the skeleton indicate his struggle to get away just before the disaster struck. I believe this skeleton belongs to the lighthouse keeper,” said Iþýk.
However, Iþýk says they believe only the lighthouse was destroyed during the tsunami. “We found no other traces of tsunami damage to other structures,” she said.
Iþýk also said there was one more lighthouse in Patara according to an inscription they found to the east of the city.
I'm back home. We had a beautiful snowy Christmas in Indy.
Why couldn't the lighthouse have just collapsed? It had to be a tsunami...
If NERO would just have signed Kyoto all of this would have never happened...
"If NERO would just have signed Kyoto all of this would have never happened..."
It was actually the fault of Emperor Georgius Bushicus II.
"Our impressions support the idea that it was destroyed not by an earthquake but by a tsunami."
The two tend to go hand in hand, so I don't know how they're making the distinction, unless the skeleton is only buried in sand, and even then, earthquake cannot be completely ruled out.
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Excellent. Thanks for the photo.
Would someone care to pronounce "Havva Ýþkan Iþýk" for me?
Is that a real pic or photoshopped?
The surrounding area should end up liberally sprayed with spit.
The "Ý" is actually an "I" with a dot on top. Its pronounced like "E".
The "þ" is actually an "s" with a accent on the bottom. It gives a sound similar to "sch" or "sh".
The "ý" is actually an "i" without the dot on top. It does not correspond to any sound in English.
Some Turkish characters turn into those strange letters when copied and pasted on computers with no Turkish character set installed.
Thanks!!
No problem.
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Where’s that pic from?
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