It’s been described as the project of the century; the deepest submerged tunnel in the world, built along the worst fault line on the planet! The Marmaray Project in Istanbul will connect Europe and Asia by tunnel for the first time. The deepwater submarine tunnel will test engineering to the limit. But the greatest challenge facing them doesn’t lie in the future – it lies in the past. While excavating for a new station, engineers uncovered a secret past to what may be one of the oldest settlements in human history. Now engineers are on a three billion dollar collision course with archaeologists in the battle of the century.

The city we call Istanbul today has had a long and exotic history. Known also as Constantinople and Byzantium, it was the capital of four Empires across two and a half thousand years. Straddling the Bosporus Straits where Europe and Asia meet, the city was uniquely placed to control the passage of people and goods from north, south, east and west. And today it’s no different. The Bosporus remains one of the busiest cargo shipping lanes in the world, while two and a half million people commute across its busy waters every day. But passage across the narrow Strait is slow for goods and for people. The new tunnel and connecting rail-line is the 21st Century answer and will transport 1.2 million people a day, each trip across the water taking less than two minutes. But in building the future, the past has come back to haunt it.

Yenikapi Station was to be a major hub for connecting rail-lines. During excavation, the engineers made an incredible discovery. A few yards below ground level, in what was originally the sea, was a preserved ancient harbor. Archaeologists determined that the great Roman Emperor, Theodosius had built it sometime in the late fourth century AD. Historians knew of the harbor’s existence but its exact location remained unknown. Until now!

All engineering work at the site came to a grinding halt in 2005 and the archaeologists moved in. Today, Yenikapi has become the largest archeological dig in the world with 500 people working shifts, twenty four hours a day, six days a week to try and get the Tunnel project back on schedule. But they keep uncovering more and more incredible artifacts from the ground. The recovery of thirty shipwrecks from the Byzantine era makes this the biggest maritime find in history. Consequently, knowledge of the period is being advanced faster than at any time in the modern era. But that’s not all…

Six feet below the seabed of the 4th century harbor, a new discovery was made that will rewrite the history of this great city. Until now, no records existed of settlement here prior to 700BC. But below the ancient harbor archaeologists uncovered the stone foundations from a settlement dating back 8000 years. It was the proof that historians had been looking for. There was civilization here much earlier than 700BC but the evidence had been submerged under rising sea levels. Some archaeologists believe it is the missing link and will connect evidence found that Homo Erectus settled here 400,000 years ago. Now, for the first time, Istanbul’s history will be traced back through millennia, making this one of the oldest, permanently settled cities in history.

But while such discoveries have mesmerized historians, they have perplexed engineers here. With no end of the archaeological excavation in sight, the Marmaray Tunnel project is being forced to delay by not just months but years. It’s costing millions and creating tension between the modernizers and historians. Watch the debate unfold on National Geographic’s Explorer and decide for yourself.

Credits

0 Comments