For 10 years, Abdullah Sengul was a night-watchman for one of Turkey’s most controversial archaeological dig: the exploration of the 1800 year old Roman Spa complex of Allianoi. But now, the rising waters of the Yortanli irrigation Dam signals the very end of this wonderful cultural legacy.
Last year, September 2010, the ruins were covered in sand, and on December 31, the waters began to rise. Eventually, these amazing ruins will lie beneath 30 metres of water. For Ahmet Yaras, who worked as head archaeologist at Allianoi, the significance of the ruins, coupled with how little of them was explored, makes their disappearance a crime. “One of the most important of humankind’s common cultural heritage sites is going into the darkness of history without us gaining any real knowledge about it,” he said.
The ruins were discovered in 1998 during exploratory digging in preparation for the dam. As the dig progressed, Yaras and his team uncovered a maze of covered passages, courtyards, columned atriums and pristine mosaics. In an ancient hospital that they determined had been used by the 2nd Century doctor Galen, one of the most famous medical researchers of antiquity, some 400 bronze medical implements were discovered.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing was Allianoi’s almost perfect state of preservation. According to Yaras, two earthquakes in the century after the complex was built caused the site to be abandoned and covered in earth. “Allianoi is as significant as the Roman baths at Baden-Baden in Germany, Bath in England, and some big baths in Italy, but it was the only one that was very well preserved,” he said. “We couldn’t make the government understand this significance.”
Although the Ministry of Culture designated Allianoi as a protected archaeological dig in 2000, the government’s support for the dam project never wavered. Senior figures often made clear their impatience with defenders of the ruins.
I see the side of both parties, I understand that the Dam must be built for economic benefits to all, but as a lover of history, I feel angry and sad that such a beautifully preserved site will disappear.
The approximately 2,000-year-old Roman-era bridge will be totally submerged when the flood waters finish rising.
An aerial view of the Allianoi Roman site prior to it being filled in with sand
Now that the floodgates of the Yortanli irrigation dam have been shut, the waters are starting to fill the fields of the valley
The Roman baths prior to being filled in with sand
Inside a hastily abandoned home a bed, cupboards and neatly placed shoes of the former owner still remain.
By the end of the year the ruins will remain under 30 meters of water
