GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION OF BURIED CANNONS IN KUMKALE (DARDANELLES), TURKEY

Abstract

Kumkale that is an old Ottoman fort is located near the ruins of ancient Troy. Cannons throwing huge balls were placed in the fort of Kumkale such as other forts on the side of Dardanelles in the period of Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Empire attended to the World War I against Allied Forces in 1914. The Allied forces attacked as bombarding Ottoman’s batteries in Dardanelles. Firstly, the British began their interest in Kumkale with an unsuccessful bombardment on 19th of February, 1915. They followed this up on 25th of February with a bit more success, their warships staying out of range as they pounded the area.

When they were leaving from Kumkale, Allied Forces destroyed the cannons. Since then, the destroyed cannons were buried in the ground. However, approximate places of them were recorded in military archives. Here, buried cannons were successfully investigated by magnetic and ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods in three regions, where pieces of cannons, phone cable between array of cannons, equipment used in maintenance and repair of the cannons and pieces of cannons were located.