10. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

times is also indicated by the structures recently exposed by erosion furthernoıth along the shore, Most notable of these is the impressive stretchof sea-wall. This build-up of sand and gravel along the shore was nodoubt caused largely by the gradual accretion of sediments carried fromthe rnouth of the neighbouring Sultan çay. Even so, the formaticn of thebeach probably evolved slowly and may still have been far from completeat the south end of the site in the thirteerıth century, if as the evidencesuggests, ships were still able to sail close to the ancieııt sea-wall.Nothing is known of developments along the shore-line at Anemuriumfrom the Middle Ages until i 954 when the beach appears tohave reached its largest extent, the end result of the natural deposition ofsand in large quantity and of lighter amounts of gravel carried southwestwardsfrom the Sultan çay. it may therefore be assumed that thisprocess had continued uninterrupted from ancient times with no humaninteıference. The drastic erosiorı that succeeded in the twelve year periodfrom 1954 through 1966, amounting to 30 m, 37 m, 34 m and 10 m, atreference points nos. 1 through 4 respectively, can probably be attributedto the intensive and continuous extraction of gravel and sand from thispart of the coast from 1960 through i 966 for construction of a regulatoron the Anamur (Dragon) Çayand the irrigation channels associated withil. The excessive erosion at point no. 3 probably indicates the area ofgreatest activity, The additional erosion that has occurred during the subsequentperiod (1966-1993), at a rate of 26 m, 21 m, 24 m and 24.5 m forthe same four reference points, is hardly less serious. lt was largelycaused by the inordinate removal of sand from the mouth of the Sultançay during the period 1976-1982, when it seıved as a source of sand forpublic works,The marked contrast between the erosion at the southem end of theshore (ref. points nos. 1-4) and that at the noıthern end (ref. points 5-8)may be explained by reference to a rose diagram represerıting the frequencyof wind directiorı based on offical meteorological data from Anamur(Fig. I). The prevailingwinds on this coast blow from the north andsouth-west respectively. The north(Poyraz), an off-shore wind in winter,creates no appreciable current along the shore, By contrast, the southwestwind, which blows strongly from spring through autumu, gencratesa considerable current flowing in a northeasterly direction. Thus sedimentsdischarged by the Sultan çay tend to be carried eastwards alongthe coast rather than in the directiorı of Cape Anamur, wherea muclıslower rate of deposit occurs, This is evident also in the configuration ofthe coastal shelf to the east of Cape Anamur (Fig. 11), which contracts142