2005 SEASON

In early June, on the desolate cliffs near the wreck site, we constructed a modest camp that included a dormitory, galley, and artifact processing area. The remainder of our team of 20 slept aboard INA’s 65-foot long research vessel Virazon, which was moored in front of the camp. Most team members dived twice daily to the site, working in 20-minute shifts to chisel concretion, excavate with airlifts, or photograph artifacts in situ for mapping. Our work on the seabed was focused toward two goals: 1) excavation of the ship's secondary cargo adjacent to the drum pile, and 2) cleaning and mapping of the drums themselves. The area upslope of the drums is characterized by a group of large rectangular marble blocks which probably represent architectural elements associated with the column. This area also yielded an interesting array of newly-quarried, roughly-finished marble objects such as a small hand basin, the pedestal for one of two larger basins (at the opposite, deeper end of the drum pile), and an uninscribed grave stone or stele. Pieces of the ship’s gear include two lead anchor collars, a lead sounding weight, and an elaborate iron concretion that probably represents an important part of the ship's equipment.

During the course of the summer, it became clear that the exposed surfaces of many of the marble elements are fairly eroded, and thus it may never be possible to know with confidence to which architectural order the capital belongs. That the stones were newly quarried seems certain, since the drums are not fluted (a process that was completed only after a column was erected). These important features distinguish the Kızılburun column wreck from the roughly contemporary stone carrier discovered at Mahdia (Tunisia), which was laden with columns and Ionic capitals likely salvaged from an existing structure.