The Black Sea Trade Project is an interdisciplinary study of trade systems in the Black Sea over the past 5,000 years and their effects on local cultures and economies. The project focuses on the hinterland and port of Sinop (ancient Sinope), an important Greek and Roman colony at the midpoint of the Turkish Black Sea coast.
The Black Sea Trade Project is an interdisciplinary study of trade systems in the Black Sea over the past 5,000 years and their effects on local cultures and economies. The project focuses on the hinterland and port of Sinop (ancient Sinope), an important Greek and Roman colony at the midpoint of the Turkish Black Sea coast. The long-term goal is to document the development of Sinop and its hinterland from mountaintop to ocean bottom using techniques that will disturb the archaeological record as little as possible. Directed by Fredrik Hiebert (Research Associate, University Museum) and Owen Doonan (California State University, Northridge), the project includes: survey programs on land and under water; geomorphological research; art historical documentation of under-studied material held in museum collections; comprehensive study of literary, historical, and epigraphic evidence; and selected emergency excavation of sites threatened by modern building. So far about 180 sites have been documented in the Sinop region, each of which has been pinpointed on 1:25,000 topographic maps provided by the Turkish government using a Global Positioning System (GPS).