Dating and dendroprovenancing of the timbers used in Yenikapı historical jetty (İstanbul, Turkey)

In 2016, the Directorate of İstanbul Archaeology Museums unearthed an extensive jetty within the eastern portion of the Byzantine harbor excavated at Yenikapı, İstanbul. The purpose of the paper is to present the results obtained from the dating and dendroprovenancing of the wooden timbers from this historical jetty. A total of 145 oak and fir samples were collected for dating. The cutting dates of the oak timbers were determined to be from AD 1762-1763, which has also been confirmed by archaeological documents. The best statistical values (Gleichläufigkeit value 76%, TV_BP 10.0 and CDI 82) were obtained using the oak chronology for Vezneciler from the Asian side of the Bosporus, which represents construction phases dating to AD 1762-1763. The highest statistical matches for the oak tree-ring series from both Yenikapı and Vezneciler were obtained using reference chronologies from northern Greece and Kosovo. Three site chronologies from the forests of Bolu, Karabük and Kastamonu were used to date the fir samples, and the cutting date was determined to be AD 1906. The best statistical results were obtained from the site chronology for Kastamonu (Gleichläufigkeit value 72%, TV_BP 10.3 and CDI 79). Due to the significant correlation with this site chronology, the origin of the fir samples may be from the forests of Kastamonu, which is the nearest fir forest along the Black Sea. Because roads and railways were not common during this period, the fir timbers may have been transported via the Black Sea to Yenikapı located near the Marmara Coast. We can conclude from this evidence that construction near the Byzantine harbor continued to utilize imported timbers into the Ottoman period.