Life cycle of estuarine islands - From the formation to the landlocking of former islands in the environs of Miletos and Ephesos in western Asia Minor (Turkey)

For Ephesos and the Küçük Menderes (Kaystros) graben, the research focused on the former island of Syrie. Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, c. CE 77) attributed the landlocking of Syrie to the Kaystros River - a scenario which has been verified by our geoarchaeological research and 14C-dated to the 5th century BC. The local foundation myth according to which an island, presumably Syrie, was the location of the first settlement of immigrants from the Greek mainland in the 11th century BCE can neither be proven nor disproven for lack of archaeological evidence. The delta advance was the main reason why the settlement sites and the harbours of Ephesos were relocated several times from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages.