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transportation over a great distance (Aristotle. Historia
Animaliunt 570a). This would have been the only
available hamsi product during the summer months,
when sailing and sea trading occurred. In Turkey in the
1930s, only salted hamsi was so1d, as this was the
simplest and the cheapest method of storing the fish. It
was mostly consumed in the coastal cities and a small
amount of it was erported to Bulgaria, Greece and
Romania. Greece was the second largest importer iihsan
1932: 76). Nowadays, also, a sma1l amount of hamsi is
salted in fäctories to make conserves" to meet the demand
of a smal1 export market.
Archaeological evidence also indicrte s that hamsi
was saltecl in large amounts in the Cimmerian Bosphorus
and Crimea in antiquity. Curtis states that,
although many different kincis of llsh were caught and
processed in salting establishments of the Black Sea
area. the tunny, particularly the pelamys. was the most
important commercially. Archaeologists have in
recent years uncovered the bones of many of these
fish as well as those of anchovies, herring, sturgeon,
sea roach, flounder" and mackerel. Some of these fish
bones have been found in saiting vats discovered bv
Soviet archaeoiogists in the strait of Kerch at Tvritake
and Myrmekeion and in the Crimea (Tauric
Chersonese) at Chersonesos (1991: 121) at
Tvritake rhe fislt rvcre primrrilv hcrrins rnd muller.
while at Myrmekeion the remains were mainlv of
xatnsa (hamsi in Turkish), a smal1 fish similar to
anchovv (199I:723). . . the vats of Chersonesus are
generally quite lar-ee . . . Small vats, but of consid-
erable depth. were probablv used for flsh sauces. The
annual production of preserved anchovies alone mav
have approached 3,000-3.500 metric tons of fisl-r,
enough to make the Crimea one of the largest centers
of salted tlsh . . . There \,vas apparentlv a salt-rvork
nearbv, and the tish remains fbund in most abundance
are those of anchovy (199i: 125).
Some ancient literari,- eviclence also sho'uvs that the
Cimmelian Bospl.rorus and Iake Nlaeotis, as well as the
other regions aronncl the Black Sea. rvere rich in saltecl
['ish (Strabo 2.2.1" 7.1.6: see also Curtis 1991: l]9
quoting Euthydemus quotecl in Athenaeus 3.116b"
Dorion quoted in Athenaer.rs III.1i8b ancl Dernosthenes
3,5.31-34), ancl the names of some of these
saltecl f'ishes are mentioned.r Thc. prohlern is that
- Flcrorlotus (-1.)i.-l) praiscs thc lish ol the Borvsthenes
(Dnicncr) rivcr. espcciallv lhe sturgcon. rvhicit. he adds. rvas
saltccl. Dorion (quoted in Athcnacus 3. I l3b) rrentions u saltccl
lish. thc r