Associate Professor Rüstem Aslan, head of Troy excavations, announced that a prehistoric settlement has been found in the Dardanelles - the narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. "We have found a prehistoric settlement dating back to 5,000 BCE," said Aslan. If true, such claims would make the settlement one of the oldest in the region, outdating even the ancient city of Troy, an ancient center of Mediterranean trade.
     The archaeology team examined the coast from the entrance of the Dardanelles to Çanakkale city center, Aslan said. "The coastal excavations had been finished and we unearthed something unexpected around Bozköy. We know that almost all settlements older than 5,000 years ago were established on high plateaus," he added. Professor Aslan lamented that the slowly rising sea level has already claimed as much as 90 percent of the site. Extensive ruins of the city nonetheless remain, and archaeologists have uncovered pottery and other artifacts that hint the city may have once been an ancient trade hub.
     Aslan said it was the first time that such a settlement was found in the Dardanelles and there is no information about this settlement in any map or document. "We can call this place a lost city." The discovery of the settlement will be a crucial piece in interpreting the Dardanelles' prehistoric past, about which archaeologists still know very little.

Edited from Hurriyet Daily News (27 September 2011), Today's Zaman (28 September 2011)