THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY CAMPAIGN OF STRUCTURES OF THE IASOS’S
BOUNDARY WALL IN CARIA
Stefano Bertocci a
a Dipartimento di Progettazione dell’Architettura, Università degli Studi di Firenze (I), sbertocc@unifi.it
Keywords: Archaeological Heritage Conservation, Survey and Mapping, Data collection Information Technology
Abstract
It’s known that the defensive system of Iasos is connnected to two magnificent works, different for chronology and history.
The first one is the boundary wall, real expression of a highly developed concept of building. Even though it was built up quickly and
was operating for a short time, it still represents one of the most significant (and debated) monuments of Iasos landscape.
The second one is the older system of town walls, one of the original elements of the town plan. In 1889, this structure, which had for
centuries represented the defense of the town, was destroyed for the building of the Bebek wharf of Instambul.
On the purpose of dating the archaeological complex and listing all its structures, the Italian Archaeological Mission at Iasos site is
still working on a multidisciplinary analysis of the ruins, supported by both excavation samples and restoration.
1 Introduction
The old town of Iasos is certainly an archaeological place with
peculiar characteristics. It is placed on a strip of land projected
on the sea by a narrow isthmus, dominated by a hard rocky
promontory, covered by a typical Mediterranean vegetation
insinuating between stones and ruins.
In fact a part of the place has been excavated and restaurated
during the last decades and some archaic, hellenistic, roman and
byzantine structures had been taken to the light. These ruins,
after interventions of consolidations and anastilosi, are today the
archaeological park of Iasos.
The numerous stratifications and the continuous reuse of
structures seem to be a constant characteristic of this town. This
is why it is hard making a chronology especially where assays
of appropriate excavations, constructive or decorative elements
with well recognisable characteristic of style are missing.
Just for giving some historical and chronological information of
installation, the town of Caria situated in the Gulf of Mandalya
is traditionally cosiderated a colony of Argo (Strabone, XIV,
658) rising from a promontory that was originally probably
separated from the mainland and populated since the Bronze
Age. Iasos was a blooming town since the period of the
Peloponnesian War; it was occupied by the Spartans and was
destroyed by Lisandro in the 405 b.C. (Diodoro Siculo, XII,
104, 7); in 387 b.C., after the Antalcida Peace, was dominated
by Hekatomnos, later by Mausolo. Alessandro Magno freed the
country after the many vicissitudes of his successors, and in 125
b.C. Iasos and all Caria were annexed in the Asia region of the
Roman Empire. Iasos was a rich town until the early centuries
of the Byzantine Empire and then it gradually declined*.
The boundary walls and their complexity, still visible today for
the most part, show to the visitor numerous and different
historical events of the town, even if despoliations of a lot of the
worked stones were used between 1888 and 1889 to build moles
for the new Istanbul port. In fact this is the only one monument
that has followed all the phases of town history, of course
because of his continued transformations due to defensives
* C.f.r. C. LAVIOSA C., pp. 76 - 85, e VICOGLIOSI
A., pp. 85 - 88.
reasons. As a matter of fact we can see a lot of restorations and
adaptations changing with materials also coming from the
pillage of the town monuments; it is clear that there are
remaking and reusing of architectonics structures that are
different for typology, age, material and constructive
technologies, whose make evident also the probable
planimetrical tracing variations of fortress during time.
2 Methodologies
The study of such an articulated complex of structures offers
some interesting cues for research and can contribute to show
the history and the urbanistic characteristic of the site.
The search has the objective to document the evidences, at level
of surface, analysing the visible structures with technological
instrument for survey and for the statigraphical study of
buildings.
The Planning Department of Architecture of University of
Florence dedicates his plan of search to the study of relationship
between wall’s typology and stratifications, and to the used
building techniques and the architectures typologies showed on
the site. This plan of search started in 1997 with a survey
campaign made by myself, Mr. Marco Bini, Mr. Mauro
Giannini and the archaeologist Ms. Maddalena Andreussi; today
this study presents the topography framing of boundary wall,
the definition of altimeter outline of the mains structures and the
survey of some structures made with the method of
photogrammetrical survey**.
Working group: Fede Berti, director of the Italian
Archaeological Mission to Iasos, Maddalena Andreussi,
archaeologist, University of Rome; Stefano Bertocci, professor
of architectural Survey, Faculty of Architecture, University of
Firenze; Marco Bini, professor of architectural Survey, Faculty
of Architecture, University of Firenze; Mauro Giannini,
architect, Faculty of Architecture, University of Firenze; Paolo
Pierattini, geologist, Department of Geosciences, University of
Firenze; Michele Cornieti, Cristian Soverini, Michele Cannoni,
Michelangelo Tiefenthaler, survey engineers, Faculty of
Architecture, University of Firenze. C.f.r. ANDREUSSI M.,
