Unearthing the Secret of Ancient Fortifications: Drs. Nicholas Rauh, Lynn Parrish and the ROSETTA Initiative
Dr. Nicholas Rauh, emeritus professor of classics at Purdue University, and his team of researchers under the innovative ROSETTA initiative are as busy as ever. By integrating cutting-edge technology and traditional archaeological methods, Dr. Rauh’s work is redefining how we understand ancient civilizations and their architectural achievements. Two on-going projects, one at Plataea in Greece, in collaboration with investigators from W. Attica U. in Athens, the other near Silifke in Turkey, in collaboration with the Boğsak Archaeological Survey Project directed by Dr. Gunder Varinlioglu of Mimar Sinan U. in Istanbul, are revealing further details about Iron Age and Hellenistic fortification systems. In a strangely parallel manner, each project has yielded insights that reflect on finds of the other, despite being some 1000 kilometers apart.
Mapping History: The ROSETTA Initiative
At the forefront of archaeological innovation, the ROSETTA initiative leverages advanced tools to uncover the hidden past. This research has not only deepened our understanding of ancient fortifications but has also illuminated the technological advancements and cultural transitions of the Greco-Roman past. In collaboration with researchers from W. Attica University and the authorization of authorities at the Thebes Archaeological Museum, Rauh and Clinical Professor of Philosophy, Lynn Parrish, are leading teams of Purdue undergraduate students to Plataea, Greece, where they are utilizing drone technology to map the site’s stone-built Hellenistic defenses. Also ongoing, Rauh has brought Purdue researchers and students from Purdue’s Colleges of Civil Engineering and Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences to help Dr. Varinlioğlu survey team map ancient maritime harbors and island settlements near Silifke, Türkiye. The ROSETTA-Boğsak collaboration has employed methodologies such as LIDAR mapping of ancient settlements, photogrammetry of architectural remains, georeferenced processing of surface pottery, and geo-dating of ancient quarries using cosmogenic nuclide techniques.
The Historical Connection between Plataia and Cilician Aphrodisias
Among the key findings are that the fortifications at Plataia and those at Aphrodisias (Yeşil Ovacık) in Türkiye, are similar and may represent a template for constructing military bases employed by Alexander the Great and his immediate Macedonian Successors. According to the ancient historian Plutarch, the 4 km. long circuit wall at Plataea was constructed before 323 BC and financed by Alexander himself. Interpreted as an “aggressive defense,” the design employs a combination of low walls to screen the defenders, towers equipped with small projectile-firing machines (catapults), attached platforms where standing crossbows (oxybeleis) furnished raking fire for the towers, and numerous sally ports to enable surprise assaults from within. The vulnerability of low walls (3-5 m. tall) required the presence of a large military detachment such as an active Macedonian detachment or a colony of veterans. What surprised Rauh was the discovery of an identical 2 km. long fortification wall employing the same combination of attached towers, platforms, and sally ports to defend the heights above the ancient harbor at Aphrodisias in Türkiye. Ceramic assemblages demonstrate that this wall was contemporary with the one at Plataea (ca. 300 BC), which suggests that Seleucus I, one of Alexander’s successors, employed the same defensive design when constructing this naval base to protect his nearby colony at Seleucia ad Calycadnum (modern-day Silifke). These fortifications represent a pivotal era in military strategy when projectile firing machines first came into use. This early Macedonian technique quickly gave way to more massive fortifications as successors such as Demetrius Poliorketes experimented with increasingly larger firing machines. This transition to more elaborate defensive systems represents a pivotal turning point in ancient technocentric warfare, and the ROSETTA team is carefully mapping the transition.
Iron Age Discoveries in Rough Cilicia
In addition to the Hellenistic findings, the ROSETTA team has discovered a network of Iron Age coastal fortifications along the Turkish coast near Silifke. Using drone photography, the team documented two ring forts on Dana Island (ancient Pityoussa), dated by assemblages to ca. 500 BC. The team has identified four additional ring forts along the neighboring coast, all within direct eyesight to accommodate signaling. These structures appear connected to the empire of a local Iron Age king known as Appuashu of Pirindu, whose palaces were located at Kirshu (Meydancik Kale) and Ura (modern Tasucu). Appuashu was defeated by the Neo-Babylonian King Neriglissar in 557 BC and his fortified centers at Kirshu, Ura, and Pityoussa were all overrun and destroyed.
In a landmark revelation, the Boğsak team, working with ROSETTA researchers from Purdue, believes they have identified the acropolis of Ura on a hill above Tasucu. The location of this known Late Bronze Age – Iron Age harbor has long eluded archaeological investigators. Plans are underway to drone map this acropolis in the spring of 2025.
Looking Ahead
Dr. Rauh’s upcoming presentations at the international conference on ancient Cilicia, hosted by the Silifke Archaeological Museum in April 2025, promise to shed further light on these fascinating discoveries. Plans are underway to organize a second international conference on the Archaeological Footprint of the Macedonian Successors in Antalya, Türkiye in 2026.
Dr. Rauh and his team’s work has not gone unnoticed in academic circles. Three significant publications highlight their contributions:
N. Kaye and N. K. Rauh, “Fortification Systems in Eastern Rough Cilicia from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic Era (1200–27 BC),” in The Transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic Period in the Levant, Cyprus, and Cilicia: Cultural Interruption or Continuity? (Marburg, 2020).
E. Dundar and N. K. Rauh, “The North Bastion on the Tepecik Acropolis at Patara: Dating ‘Early Hellenistic’ Fortification Walls in Southwestern Anatolia,” in Hesperia (2017).
G. Varinlioğlu, N. Kaye, M. R. Jones, R. Ingram and N. K. Rauh, The 2016 Dana Island Survey: Investigation of an Island Harbor in Ancient Rough Cilicia by the Boğsak Archaeological Survey,in the Journal of Near Eastern Archaeology (2017)
These works delve into the evolution of fortification systems, offering invaluable insights into the technological and cultural shifts of the period.
