[SunkenCiv]

The Turks had at least one rail tunnel under the strait, I believe, and over the past ten-fifteen years have been digging a newer system that will take much more traffic volume. In the process of this, they’ve turned up ancient ships, wharves, etc, and other ancient sites that had to be rescue-dug.

The bridging of the straits in ancient times was accomplished at least twice by the Persians, hmm, maybe three times, using pontoon bridges. They built a bridge for the Greek war, the one that included the militarily insignificant Thermopylae but was answered decisively at Salamis. The Persians also bridged it for their campaign into Scythia, which turned out to be a huge waste of their time, because the Scythians lived in the saddle, and would just bug out when they saw the cloud of dust. As the winter started to close in, the Persians marched out as fast as their feet would carry them. Odd that neither Napoleon nor the WWI and WWII Germans didn’t learn from this.

[Carry_Okie]

The Turks had at least one rail tunnel under the strait, I believe,

That is under the Bosporus, not the Dardanelles, which is 140 miles to the southeast of the Bosporus across the Sea of Marmara.

[Daffynition]

http://nauticalarch.org/gallery/ina-turkey/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0110_030113_blacksea_2.html

Radiocarbon analysis of fish bone samples taken from the amphora conducted at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, indicated that the bones were between 2,490 and 2,280 years old. The analysis also confirmed the age of the shipwreck. (Wood samples were also gathered at the site of the shipwreck. However, radiocarbon analysis indicated that the wood was modern, most likely trash that drifted onto the site.)

Questions remain about the olive pits and resin also found inside the amphora, however, and whether or not the amphora was reused to ship various trade goods. Amphorae most often carried wine and olive oil. Resin was used to coat the vessels' interiors to prevent leakage.

"The key was that inside this particular amphora there were olive pits. So the question [is], was there olive oil? Or was it just…residual from a previous shipment?" Ballard said.