Eastern Grego-Roman Cities

Only since the last two decades of the twentieth century have professional geologists been working specifically at Miletus, investigating the shiny white limestone on top at KalabakHill; the limestone of Theater Hill and Humei Hill; and the limestone of Zeytin Hill (at the west of the hill called Degirmen, west of Kalabak), with sandstone and tuff to the east. The stratigraphy at Miletus is as follows, beginning with the topmost modern layer: . . . Iron deposits in mountains east of Miletus and both iron and brown coal at Mt. Mykale (today Samsun Dag) north of the Meander River valley. Volcanic tuff. Soluble limestone: 200 m of Yatagan or Balat strata of marble with tufa, sand, and gravel from which springs emerge. Early Pliocene limestone, shiny white limestone cap 60–100 m thick, karstified but with few on-site springs, forming ridges, hills, and a thick layer of scree. Miocene marls, sandstones, conglomerates, and clays with springs. Pink-yellow sandstone, sometimes with tuff, around sides of hills. Older clayey limestone deposited in a lake environment. Former large bay, now a swampy river plain with rich alluvial soil. . . . Prof. B. Schröder and his team have done geological research in the area (1990–94) and published their findings swiftly, which I acknowledge with gratitude. Suspected faults run north and south of Kalabak Hill (recognized in C. Schneider 1997). The town of Akköy to the south, where the German archaeological house is located well above the mosquitoes of the archaeological site in the swampy plain, sits on limestone that forms a peninsular ridge, surrounded on three sides by sandstone with tuff. The west coast of Asia Minor is subject to strong relief, steep gradients, and high precipitation; the high amount of energy available allows rapid change in topography (Gage 1978: 621). In Ionia, on average, the sea has risen or the land has sunk 1.75 m since antiquity (Bintliff 1977: 24; 1992). The Greek cities of Asia Minor were without exception built on or next to karst terrain (V. Klemes, 1988, personal communication when he was president of the International Association for Karst Hydrology).