DISCOVERY

The Kizilburun Column Wreck was first located in 1993, on one of INA's annual shipwreck surveys directed by Dr. Cemal Pulak. At the time of discovery, the only diagnostic artifact visible was a Lamboglia 2 amphora resting against one of the column drums. This presence of this amphora, though not clearly associated with the stone cargo, suggested that the wreck might date to the second or first century B.C. The Column Wreck is one of at least five shipwrecks in the immediate area, which include a fourth-century B.C. amphora carrier, two Byzantine wrecks, and a Medieval millstone wreck. For more details about the 1993 INA survey, see Dr. Pulak's INA Quarterly report.

In 2001, a second team – this one under the direction of INA’s Tufan Turanlı – returned to Kizilburun forseveral days as part of the Shipwrecks of Anatolia project. In the process of photographing and sketching the visible remains, divers identified a large scatter of artifacts that included black glaze bowls, oil lamps, transport amphoras, and a small copper handle. The discovery of three additional Lamboglia 2 amphoras in association with the drums seemed to strengthen the possibility that the wreck dated from the late second or first century B.C. The presence of a Doric column on a shipwreck of the second or first century B.C. is particularly interesting because at this time architects seem generally to have preferred the Ionic and Corinthian orders to the Doric.