The book features a selection of stunning images of the highs and lows of the excavation at the historic site, which was discovered when construction began in 2004 on the Marmaray project to link the two sides of İstanbul via an underwater tunnel. One of the three underground stations for the subway is to be at Yenikapı, an area that was called Langa Bostanı during the Ottoman period. Also included in the publication are comments on the process jotted down by President Abdullah Gül in an “excavation notebook.” “These amazing finds shed light on İstanbul’s past and provide important clues as to previously gray areas relating to different generations and historical periods,” Gül notes at one point. The photographs documenting the dig include images of archaeologists at work late at night, struggling through snowy conditions or praying outdoors at the excavation site, the Radikal daily reported in an article on Wednesday.
Artifacts discovered at the 58,000-square-meter site date back to the late Ottoman era, the early Byzantine period and even Neolithic times. Among the finds at the site was the fourth century Port of Theodosius, which was part of the ancient Constantinople harbor of Eleutherios. In 2005, workers discovered the silted-up remains of a harbor that was constructed during the reign of Theodosius I and was the city’s major point of trade. Traces of an ancient city wall and the remains of over 35 Byzantine ships from the seventh to 10th centuries were excavated, as well as 8,000-year-old skeletons, which provided critical evidence suggesting İstanbul was home to the earliest Stone Age settlements.
