Roman Period Ceramics of the Archaeological Survey Project in Izmir-Karaburun

An Archaeological Survey Project is conducted since 2015 in the Kamburun district of province Izmir in western Turkey. The main objective of this research is to fill the research gap in this archaeologically neglected area, to determine the regional settlement patterns from the beginning until the foundation of the Turkish Republic, and to document archaeological sites with the theoretical perspective of landscape archaeology.. The project, which is directed by the Protohistory and Near Eastern Archeology Department of the Ege University covered a large area since its initiation. During this study, surveys are led along the eastern coast of the Kamburun peninsula as well as in the areas that are considered to be under threat. In total, 105 archaeological sites (or points of interests) were identified between the years 2015-2018 which revealed a wide variety of finds, dominated by architectural features and ceramics. Although most of these sites belong to the Ottoman and Early Republican periods, archaeological finds from Byzantine, Roman, Hellenistic periods, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Chalcolithic Period, Neolithic Period, Mesolithic Period, Epipalaeolithic Period, Paleolithic Periods were also discovered. This article is based on the investigation of ceramic material from 16 sites dated to the Roman period. In these areas, intensive Roman Period ceramics and architectural structures were encountered with major sites being Balikliova-Sicabuk, Engicili, Boyabag and Ulucabuk. However, as a result of these areas being on the coastline, the abrasive effect of water and weather conditions prevented the collection of well-preserved material. Nevertheless, in addition to ceramic products of Candarli (Eastern Sigillata C) and Phokaia (LRC) a large number of roof tiles and slag fragments were identified. Therefore, we believe that the study of Roman material from Karaburun peninsula will shed light on the Roman Period of this region which remained under-represented in the archaeological literature. Our study suggests that Roman communities of Karaburun had access to both regional and imported products, furthermore the identification of workshops and ovens indicate that a locally maintained domestic production took place in Karaburun as well. We infer that the presence of Early and Late Roman remains will provide information on the settlement histories and site density of the region during the Roman Period. Since the materials studied for this article lack any stratigraphic context, typological indices, morphological features and ceramic analogies were used more in order to date these materials.