この遺跡は2007年に紀元前7世紀頃のイカリが発見されたことが今回の調査のきっかけとなっています。この遺跡は古代の港跡で、約6000年前から使われ始めたものだと考えられており、青銅器時代には主要な港であったと考えられています。紀元前7世紀に起こった地震の被害を受けた後は衰退していったもようです。

今回の調査はイスラエルのハイファ大学などからも協力を得て発掘を行っているそうです。

19 March 2009 | Archaeologists announced today they have begun underwater excavations of the prehistoric site of Limantepe in western Turkey.

The underwater research, headed by Professor Hayat Erkanal of the Archaeology Department of the Ankara University, explores the prehistoric settlement located in the coastal town of Urla near İzmir in western Turkey.

The harbour settlement was inhabited as early as starting from 6,000 years ago and, as such, it is one of the oldest known artificial harbours in the Aegean Sea. A big part of it, including a fortification wall, was submerged in the sea due to a massive earthquake which occurred in 700 BC, according to Erkenal.

Layers from three different periods have been found at Limantepe. The lowest layer belongs to the Early Bronze Age and dates from the third millennium BC onwards. The second one dates to the Middle Bronze Age from the first half of the second millennium BC onwards.

According to experts, evidence from these two early periods indicate cultural ties with the nearby prehistoric sites of Tepekule, Bayraklı within the city of İzmir and the Panaztepe site at the mouth of the River Gediz.

The third layer belongs to the Late Bronze Age and covers the time period from the fourteenth to the thirteenth century BC, with some artifacts discovered from this period suggesting a cultural proximity with the Mycenaean culture.

According to Erkanal, Limantepe was a major sea transportation centre with large political significant in the Aegean Region in 3000 BC.

Interest in the site grew in 2007 when a wooden anchor dating from the seventh century BC was discovered wedged in the sea ground during underwater explorations. It is said that it could be the oldest such anchor ever found.

The current excavations are being carried out with the support of experts and equipment from Israel’s Haifa University.

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今年の水中考古学はいったいどのような動きがあるのでしょうか？世界的に景気が悪くなっているようですが、この学問は景気に意外と左右されやすい性質を持っていますが、それはどの学問も大体同じなのではと考えていますし、逆にこのようなときこそ情報を発信し人々の興味のある研究を紹介していきたいと考えています。

今年最初のニュースはユネスコ水中文化遺産保護法が正式に採択されて機能し始めることではないでしょうか？1月には動きがみえてくることでしょう。国や地域で水中文化遺産の保護・活用を考えることが現在必要になってきています。水中遺跡の発見やデータベースの作成、自治体の水中遺跡に関する認知度の向上などは資金が少なくても出来ますし、またひとつの遺跡の発掘よりも将来的に大きな意義を持つ活動だと考えています。2009年こそ日本国内で組織だった水中考古学・水中文化遺産を組織的に組み立てていく骨組み・基礎を築くのに良い年ではないかと思います。

さて、海外の動向ですが、なかなか何が発見されるからないものですが、景気を考えるとすこし深海考古学の発達の動きが鈍る可能性も考えられます。しかし、良いアイディアを持った民間企業が逆に伸びる可能性もあり、実際に有効的・効果的なテクノロジーに焦点をあわせた開発が進む可能も充分ありそうです。また、テクノロジーとの融合だけではなく、他の分野ー海洋学・地質学などーとも共同研究が行われています。地中海やアメリカなどでは大発見と言うようなものはそれほどなさそうですが、今まで発掘されてきた遺跡を総合的に研究し、他の考古学・歴史学の分野との融合を深める動きも見られるようです。10年前まで一部で存在していた「水中考古学は遊び」のような雰囲気は欧米では全くなくなっています。地中海などではウルブルンのような大きな発見などは期待できませんが、今まで研究がされていなかった地域はまだまだ発見がありそうです。

今後はアジアやアフリカでの発見が期待されています。アフリカのナミビアで発見されたスペイン船の今後の研究の動きも気になります。中国や韓国の研究者はやはり海外の研究者との結びつきを重要視し始めています。南海1号や蓬莱沈没船の研究事例が少しずつではありますが、世界の研究者の注目を受け初めています。また、鷹島海底遺跡に関する関心も海外で強まってきています。2010年以降は交際的・学際的な研究がより重要視されるものと思います。　　

この人骨は水中洞窟の中から発見されたそうです。水深約１５ｍの地点ですが、当時は海底面が低かったので陸だったそうです。彼女は東南アジアか北アジア系に骨格の特徴が似ているそうです。

Deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas.

Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, the female skeleton has been dated at 13,600 years old. If that age is accurate, the skeleton—along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula—could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.

The remains have been excavated over the past four years near the town of Tulum, about 80 miles southwest of Cancún, by a team of scientists led by Arturo González, director of the Desert Museum in Saltillo, Mexico (see map of Mexico).

“We don’t now how [the people whose remains were found in the caves] arrived and whether they came from the Atlantic, the jungle, or inside the continent,” González said.

“But we believe these finds are the oldest yet to be found in the Americas and may influence our theories of how the first people arrived.”

In addition to possibly altering the time line of human settlement in the Americas, the remains may cause experts to rethink where the first Americans came from, González added.

Clues from the skeletons’ skulls hint that the people may not be of northern Asian descent, which would contradict the dominant theory of New World settlement. That theory holds that ancient humans first came to North America from northern Asia via a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Sea (see an interactive map of ancient human migration).

“The shape of the skulls has led us to believe that Eva and the others have more of an affinity with people from South Asia than North Asia,” González explained.

Concepción Jiménez, director of physical anthropology at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, has viewed the finds and says they may be Mexico’s oldest and most important human remains to date.

“Eva de Naharon has the Paleo-Indian characteristics that make the date seem very plausible,” Jiménez said.

Ancient Floods, Giant Animals

The three other skeletons excavated in the caves have been given a date range of 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating.

Radiocarbon dating measures the age of organic materials based on their content of the radioactive isotope carbon 14.

According to archaeologist David Anderson of the University of Tennessee, however, minerals in seawater can sometimes alter the carbon 14 content of bones, resulting in inaccurate radiocarbon dating results.

The remains were found some 50 feet (15 meters) below sea level in the caves off Tulum. But at the time Eve of Naharon is believed to have lived there, sea levels were 200 feet (60 meters) lower, and the Yucatán Peninsula was a wide, dry prairie.

The polar ice caps melted dramatically 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, causing sea levels to rise hundreds of feet and submerging the burial grounds of the skeletons. Stalactites and stalagmites then grew around the remains, preventing them from being washed out to sea.

González has also found remains of elephants, giant sloths, and other ancient fauna in the caves.

(Learn more about how caves form.)

Human Migration Theories

If González’s finds do stand up to scientific scrutiny, they will raise many interesting new questions about how the Americas were first peopled.

Many researchers once believed humans entered the New World from Asia as a single group crossing over the Bering Land Bridge no earlier than 13,500 years ago. But that theory is lately being debunked.

Remains found in Monte Verde, Chile, in 1997, for example, point to the presence of people in the Americas at least 12,500 years ago, long before migration would have been possible through the ice-covered Arctic reaches of North America.

(Related: “Clovis People Not First Americans, Study Shows” [February 23, 2007].)

Confirmation of Eve of Naharon’s age could further revolutionize the thinking about the settlement of the Americas.

This September, González will begin excavating the fourth skeleton, known as Chan hol, which he says could be even older than Eve.

The Chan hol remains include more than ten teeth, which will allow researchers to date the specimen and gather information about Chan hol’s diet.

“When we learn more about the [Mexican finds] we’ll be able to better evaluate them,” said Carlos Lorenzo, a researcher at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, an expert on the subject who was not involved in the current study.

“But in any case, if it’s confirmed that Eva de Naharon is 13,000 years old, it will be a fantastic and extraordinary finding for understanding the first settlers of America.”

González said he and his team hope to publish the full results of their analysis after the excavation of the fourth skeleton.

“We’re not yet in the phase of research of determining how they arrived,” he said. “But when we have more evidence we may be able to determine that.”