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TINA

Maritime Archaeology Periodical

One should highlight the “bottleneck” effect created hooks was probably done in deep waters that are avail-
by the very special and favourable conditions of fishing able close to the shore in this region . As Mylona sug-
44
in the Marmara and the Bosphorus. Otherwise, it would gests, reed-bundle or planked boats may have been used
have been a great challenge to capture these large mam- for capturing migratory fish such as the tuna . Although
45
mals, as illustrated by their general absence from the it is not possible to refute the existence of offshore fish-
faunal assemblages in the Aegean Basin. eries around the island of Youra, we should recognize
Bluefin tuna was also identified at Beşik-Yassıtepe from that the environmental conditions would have permitted
deposits dating to the very beginning of the 3 millen- inshore capture of migratory fish along with other in-
rd
nium BCE (Fig. 7). Von den Driesch pointed out that shore species.
it was such a major activity for the community, that it OFFSHOre eXPLOrAtIOnS: SCALe AnD PurPOSe
was impossible to ignore the significant economic input This is not to say that prehistoric communities in the
of tuna to community’s living . Also five fragments of Aegean did not have the capacity to explore the off-
39
swordfish (Istiophorus spec.) remains were identified at shore. On the contrary, the archaeological evidence sug-
Beşik-Yassıtepe which, according to von den Driesch, gests sporadic explorations in the Paleolithic and more
must have been captured offshore . Beşik-Yassıtepe regular visits to the seascape beginning with the 9 -8
40
th
th
was most certainly in a favourable position in terms of millennia BCE . Although doubts continue to exist,
46
the availability of migratory fish, which is also suggest- there seems to have been Middle Paleolithic maritime
ed by the contrastingly much lower relative amount of activity in the Aegean, suggested by finds from Crete
tuna and swordfish recovered at contemporary Troia and Gavdos . At least some episodes of Middle Paleo-
47
(Fig. 8) . However, instead of assuming an “offshore lithic activity on Naxos may also be related to seago-
41
fishery,” we would rather underline the local favourable ing activities . Upper Paleolithic maritime engagement
48
conditions created in the bay where Beşiktepe was lo- is a well-established fact thanks to the Melian obsidian
cated, itself most probably a feeding ground for migra- found in Franchthi Cave . Sea-bound travels continued
49
tory fish on their way to Dardanelles . These fish sub- into the Mesolithic period. recent evidence from the
42
sequently became easy seasonal catch for the Beşiktepe Plakias region suggests that, using sea-worthy vessels,
population. the southern coast of Crete could be reached by Meso-
Similarly, at the Cyclops Cave on Youra, there is good lithic foragers familiar with weather, sea conditions, and
th
50
evidence that the community, especially during the Me- navigational techniques . 9-7 millennia BCE occupa-
solithic era, captured diverse local and migratory fish tions of the Cave of the Cyclope on the island of Youra
year-round. Here, inshore fish species dominate the fish and Maroulas on Kythnos likewise demonstrate the abil-
remains in all eras . Since deep water is found inshore ity of foragers to exploit island environments, including
43
51
around this island, long-line tuna fishing using large available marine resources .
37 POWELL 1996, 11-15; UErPMANN – VAN NEEr 2000, 148; also see COLL et al. 2010.
38 ÇAKIrLAr 2013.
39 VON DEN DrIESCH 1999, 456.
40 VON DEN DrIESCH 1999, 456.
41 UErPMANN – VAN NEEr 2000, Tab. 4.
42 UErPMANN – VAN NEEr 2000.
43 MYLONA 2011, 251.
44 PICKArD – BONSALL 2004, 283.
45 MYLONA 2011, 254.
46 BrOODBANK 2006; BrOODBANK 2013, 127, 154; ÇİLİNGİrOĞLU 2017b.
47 KOPAKA – MATZANAS 2009; STrASSEr et al. 2010.
48 CArTEr et al. 2017.
49 PErLЀS 2001, 35.
Troy EBA Fish Remains
Troya İTÇ Balık kalıntıları
70
60
50
40
NISP 30
Fig. 8: Troia’nın ETÇ tabakalarında bulunan balık
20
türlerinin yoğunlukları (Veriler Uerpmann ve Van
10 Neer 2000’den alınmıştır.)
Fig. 8: Fish types from Troia’s EBA levels (after
0
Bluefin Bluefish Seabreams Gray mullets Freshwater Uerpmann and Van Neer 2000)
Orkinos Lüfer Çipura Kefal Tatlısu balğı
türleri 61
Figure 8: Fish types from Troia’s EBA levels (after Uerpmann and Van Neer 2000)

Figure 8: Troia’nın ETÇ tabakalarında bulunan balık türlerinin yoğunlukları (Veriler Uerpmann ve Van Neer
2000’den alınmıştır.)