The 2005-2011 excavation by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) of the late Hellenistic "column wreck" at Kizilburun, Turkey recovered ceramic artifacts clearly postdating the wreck by a number of centuries. The majority of these are amphorae, though other forms are represented in the assemblage. In summer 2016, these ceramics were quantified, recorded, and cataloged for further study, the goal of which was to restore some degree of context to the assemblage. With proper study, they can be placed within trade networks and developments of their specific periods, and in turn provide material evidence for maritime trading activity. Upon study, the entire intrusive assemblage was found to cover a date range from the late first century to the seventh century C.E. The majority of the intrusive ceramics date approximately to the sixth century. These ceramics may be tentatively connected to two roughly sixth-century wrecks upslope and east of the column wreck. After a survey of the relevant chronology, from the height of the Roman Empire to the Arab conquests of the seventh century, the ceramics provide evidence for trading patterns of both cabotage and long-distance direct trade. The intrusive assemblage evinces both private and state-sponsored merchant activity along the Turkish Aegean coast, reflecting broader trends in North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean, and the Black Sea.
