Archaeologist Sırrı Çölmekçi has said that large-scale transportation projects such as Marmaray and the metro not only transformed Istanbul’s infrastructure but also revealed layers of the city’s cultural memory stretching back 8,500 years.
Speaking at a talk titled “An Evaluation of the Yenikapı Excavations in Terms of Urban Archaeology,” Çölmekçi underlined that the rescue excavations carried out within the scope of the Marmaray and Metro projects fundamentally changed the historical narrative of Istanbul.
“If these projects had not been implemented, we would not have been able to trace the remains of the Theodosius Harbor and its ships, the materials and graves of Yenikapı’s earliest inhabitants who lived 8,500 years ago, the Byzantine architecture and harbor remains in Sirkeci or the traces of the ancient city in Üsküdar,” he said.
Çölmekçi noted that one of the most striking discoveries of the excavations was the Yenikapı Neolithic Settlement, which pushed the city’s known history back by millennia and marked a turning point in Istanbul’s historiography.
Approximately 100,000 artifacts were unearthed during the Yenikapı excavations, he said. In the southern part of Zone 1 within the Marmaray area, excavations revealed multi-room structures built with irregular stones using mud mortar, horasan mortar and, in later periods, cement mortar. Beneath these structures, a 100-meter-long section of a stone-paved road dating to the 17th century was documented and relocated.
Ottoman-era architectural remains were covered with geotextile fabric and filled with washed river sand in line with conservation board decisions, ensuring their protection. An evaluation of materials found in and around these remains suggested that the structures were workshops linked to chemical or pharmaceutical production. Large quantities of blue-and-white ceramics dating to the 16th and 17th centuries were also uncovered within Ottoman-period cultural layers.
Turning to the discoveries at the Theodosius Harbor, Çölmekçi said that when excavations began, it was not known that dozens of vessels were hidden within the harbor area.
“There was no expectation that ships of different sizes — including commercial vessels, small fishing boats and long oared ships — would be found, forming what is now one of the largest ship collections ever uncovered as a group in the world,” he said.
Archaeological work at the site revealed the remains of 37 shipwrecks of various types and sizes dating from the fifth to the 11th centuries. “These wrecks are considered the world’s largest collection of medieval shipwrecks,” Çölmekçi said, adding that sedimentation caused by the Lykos Stream likely led to the harbor losing its function and becoming land, which helped preserve the vessels.
The ship remains provide crucial information on Byzantine ship typology, shipbuilding technologies and the evolution of these techniques, he added.
Excavations carried out in the western part of the harbor area, known as the “100 Islands” Zones 2 and 3, revealed overlapping architectural remains from different periods dating from the fourth to the 13th centuries. Among the most notable structures are fortification remains, quays, breakwaters, burial chambers and vaulted buildings.
The most significant find in this area is a wall measuring 51 meters in length and 4.2 meters in width, built of cut stone and plastered with horasan mortar. Based on coins and artifacts found nearby, the wall is believed to be part of the Constantine Wall constructed during the reign of Emperor Constantine.
Çölmekçi also highlighted the discovery of extensive animal skeletal remains scattered across the site, alongside archaeological material. He said that just as excavators were preparing to hand the area over to the construction company after limited test drilling at the harbor floor, they encountered an unexpected surprise.
Distinct stone alignments, fragments of burnt mudbrick and handmade pottery led to the discovery of a Neolithic layer. “With this layer, traces of Istanbul’s first inhabitants were uncovered and the known history of the city was pushed back 8,500 years,” he said.
According to Çölmekçi, the Yenikapı Neolithic settlement was likely established near the shoreline at a time when the Marmara Sea was still a lake, and was later submerged due to rising global sea levels.
Findings related to the Neolithic period include burial types, funerary traditions, wooden house structures and hundreds of preserved human footprints — the first such examples known in Anatolian archaeology. Architectural traces indicate that the houses were simple in plan, either rectangular or circular, supported by wooden posts reinforced with stones, with walls made of wattle-and-daub plastered with mud.
The community is also believed to have produced high-quality wheat and peas and to have domesticated animals, Çölmekçi said.
