Hellenistic Wreck at Serçe Limanı

In 1973, Turkish sponge diver Mehmet Aşkın reported to INA archaeologists the discovery of a shipwreck to INA found at Serçe Limanı, or Sparrow Harbor. Meaning ‘Sparrow Harbor’ in Turkish, Serçe Limanı—a small, sheltered bay with a deep, narrow entrance—is located oin the southern coast of the Bozburun Peninsula, opposite the Greek island of Rhodes. INA was already excavating the Glass Wreck in 1977, and George Bass requested that Cemal Pulak excavate and assess the extent and potential of the Hellenistic wreck. The first excavations of the site, conducted by Pulak from 1978 to 1980, revealed hundreds of amphoras and various small finds buried underneath the sand.

The ship’s primary cargo was comprised of Knidian amphoras in two distinct sizes. The amphoras and their sealstamps suggested that the ship sank around 280–275 B.C. The excavations revealed a variety of artifacts in addition to the amphoras, including pieces of lead hull platessheathing, plain and black glazed glazed vesselspottery, millstones, and a marble ring that may have been used to retrieve fouled nets, ropes, and mooring lines. A lead pipe was also found in the wreck, which may have belonged to the oldest known bilge pumping system.

In 1980, the excavation was halted when it was discovered that the wreck was under a landslide of large boulders that could endanger the site if moved. These large boulders had detached from the bedrock and fallen onto the wreck site sometime after the ship sank.

With permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the excavations in Serçe Harbor were resumed in 2023 with the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Highly detailed and high-resolution 3D models and orthophotographic site plans were created and thoroughly documented.

In 2024, scientific archaeological excavations of the wreck commenced. Primarily, the large boulders (weighing approximately four tons) that led to the excavation halt in 1980 were removed from the wreck site, and comprehensive excavations were undertaken in the entire wreck area. The project is a collaborative effort between academics and students from the USA, France, Australia, and Turkey, who are engaged in diving and research from the ARV Virazon II. All the finds from this excavation are now stored in the Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum, where INA experts are carrying out detailed restoration, conservation and documentation.