3D digital modeling of Yenikapı 16 shipwreck

During the excavation carried out for the Metro-Marmaray transfer station in Yenikapı between 2004 and 2013, 37 shipwreck remains dated between the 5th and 10th centuries AD were unearthed within the Theodosius Port filling. These 37 shipwrecks constitute the world's largest known medieval shipwrecks collection. Within the scope of the Yenikapı Shipwrecks Project carried out by the Department of Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects of İstanbul University, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ufuk Kocabaş, 27 of these shipwrecks were removed from the field after detailed documentation and in situ drawings. Today, technology researches on the designs and construction features of shipwrecks are continuing. For this purpose, all wooden elements of each shipwreck are drawn in detail on a 1: 1 scale, photographed and cataloged. The Yenikapı 16 shipwreck is an oared warship known as the galley, dated to the 9th century AD. The galleys rarely encountered by underwater archaeologists and extremely important, as they are one of the first examples of warships as archaeological evidence of the Middle Byzantine Period. The hull part of the wreck, which is 22. 5 m in length and 2.40 m in width, was found as a whole. Within the scope of the thesis, 3D digital documentation and modeling of the YK16 shipwreck is studied. It is of great importance to document the galley, which is one of the most preserved example ever found and has no other similar archaeological examples dating to the 9th century. Visual data about the shipwreck in a comprehensible way by creating 3-dimensional images are being prepared. The data obtained from these studies will be used in the preparation of the reconstruction project of the shipwreck and in the following exhibition works.