Research of the historical and battlefield archaeology of the Gallipoli peninsula: the Ottoman fortress at Seddülbahir

Abstract

The Seddülbahir fortress stands at the end of the Gallipoli peninsula and was built in the 17th century by Hadice Turhari Sultan, the mother of Sultari Mehmed IV, to help protect the entrance to the Dardanelles from Venetiari naval invasions. The fortress has been ari important Ottomari naval fortification of the western Aegeari frontier of the Ottomari Empire; the strategic location of the fortress made it the first point of attack by Allied forces during the Gallipoli campaign of Worid War I. The deaths of Turkish soldiers there, and the commemorative monument that has been erected at the entrance to the fortress also makes the site ari important symbol for the Turkish nation. Today the fortress at Seddülbahir is in a critical state of deterioration. As part of a larger scale project for the conservation, re-usage and presentation of the fortress for visitors, a joint team from Koç University's Archaeology and History of Art Department and Istanbul Technical University's Geodesy and Photogrammetry department have been investigating the architectural history of the fortress from the 17th through the 20th centuries also considering the nature of the destruction that took places during the bombardments of the site during World War One. In order to do this we are employing a variety of methods to research and document the site. Archaeological excavation is one research strategy that has been conducted during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Our other main undertaking has been to go through the documents in the archives covering the two centuries concerning the construction and repair activities that took place in the fortress so as to understand the later history of the Seddülbahir castle. Oral testimony from village residents has been collected and used to shed light upon the intangible heritage of the region and the past memories as well as the present concerns of residents who currently live at the historical site. Finally, new technology such as 3D laser scanning has been used to insure that ari extremely accurate set of measurements exists for long term conservation monitoring of the structural changes that may occur at the fortress, and to help in presenting accurate virtual representations of the many stages of Seddülbahir's past.