ABSTRACT
An ancient mine located at Kestel on the outskirts of Nigde, in the Taurus Mountains of south central Turkey, has been dated by radiocarbon and pottery type to the third millennium B.C. Archeological soundings in the mine located cassiterite (tin oxide) in the detritus of ancient mining activity. Cassiterite is also present in veins and, as placer deposits, in streams nearby. Since tin is used with copper in order to form bronze but is thinly distributed in the earth's crust, the presence of tin ore at Kestel offers a source for the much sought after tin of the Bronze Age. The discovery of an ancient mine containing cassiterite sheds light on this question, but also greatly complicates the accepted picture of regional economic patterns in the highland resource areas of Anatolia and of interregional metal exchange in the formative periods of urbanization and metal use in the eastern Mediterranean.
ABSTRACT
Mercury, cadmium and lead levels in water, sediment and fish samples from Izmit Bay, Turkey have been determined. Sampling and analysis methods are described. Variations of heavy metal concentrations from different sampling stations are discussed. Results indicate that the levels of mercury and cadmium were highest in the vicinity of a chlor-alkali plant while the highest concentration of lead was near a metallic pipe factory. The amounts of heavy metals found in the shoreline sediment samples were similar to those found in fish species from the bay.
