Ottoman Clay Pipes Unearthed in the Excavations of the Smyrna/İzmir Agora
Project no. 23679 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2022
Summary
<p>The project focuses on Ottoman-period tobacco pipes (<em>lüle</em>)—one of the most significant objects of daily life—unearthed during the excavations of the ancient Smyrna Agora in the city center of İzmir. Conducted under the supervision of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the excavations have yielded a considerable number of pipes, which are being documented in the excavation house using digital recording methods. Each pipe will be manually profiled, drawn in detail, and later digitally reconstructed using the CorelDRAW program to ensure precise documentation and classification. Studies on Ottoman clay pipes discovered in the İzmir Agora are quite limited. Previous research has introduced only a small number of examples, offering brief descriptions and general assessments within their historical context. The exact position of these finds among the broader corpus of Ottoman-period pipes found across the empire, in museums, and in private collections has not yet been clearly determined. Moreover, the problems and hypotheses concerning the Agora pipes have not been previously addressed.</p><p>When the examples discovered between 2011 and 2021 are evaluated as a whole, it becomes evident that this project is original in scope, method, and research hypotheses. Through the meticulous and scientifically based analyses to be conducted, questions regarding the production centers and manufacturing techniques of the İzmir Agora pipes will be clarified. Considering their technical and decorative characteristics, both the similarities and differences among Ottoman pipes will be identified, leading to the determination of a distinct local production tradition specific to İzmir and its surrounding region.</p>