The Seytan Deresi wreck and the Minoan connection in the Eastern Aegean

Abstract

In 1975, a team from the Institute of Nautical crographics. Archaeology excavated a pottery assemblage lying at a depth of approximately 30 meters in the bay of keyman Derek (Devil Creek), on the Aegean coast of Turkey east of Bodrum. Despite the absence of ship timbers, the location of the site, the uniform fabric of most of the items, and their distribution on the seabed indicated that the assemblage represented a shipwreck. The potted, comprising exclusively coarseware utilitarian vessels, may have served as merchandise containers and/or constituted trade items, while some may have held the crew' s food and drink supply. After conservation and preliminary study of the material, project director George Bass dated the wreck to the late Middle Bronze Age pointing to Middle Minoan as well as Amatolian influences on the pottery. While it is true that none of the Bronze Age analogues constitutes an exact parallel of any of the Sextan Deresi ceramics, later periods do not provide any closer counterparts. Recent excavations have brought to light material that supports a Middle Bronze Age dating and strengthens the case for the possibly Minoan or Minonmizing nature of the pottery. Additionally, recent work ill Eastern Aegean islands substantiates the tradition of colonization and intensive maritime activity by Minors in the region. Tile pottery from keyman Deresi may have been made in a Minoan settlement of the Eastern Aegean islands or a site on the Anatolian coast where Minors lived and/or traded.