panormos/teamAn online reference for Panormosites and interested parties
Dün bütün ekip bugünde araziye çıkılacağını sanıyordu. Ancak kahvaltıdan sonra bugün yalnızca kazı evinde çalışacağımızı öğrendik. Ayrıca bugün normalden bir saat daha geç çalışmalara başladık. Kazı evine geçtiğimizde Hazal, Birce ve Michael seramik çizimi yaptılar. Ama öncelikle Birce ve Cem seramik yıkadılar. Ben fotoğraf çekmek için platformu ve bilgisayarı ayarladım ve daha sonra fotoğraf çekmeye başladım. Anja, bir yandan bizi organize etmeye çalıştı bir yandan ise çizim çalışmalarına devam etti. Toby ve Nehemie ise bugün ekipten ayrı olarak birlikte çalıştılar. Panormos ekibinin tamamının katıldığı kazı evindeki ilk çalışma günü bence gayet güzeldi. Birce ve Michael, çizimde fazla tecrübe sahibi olmadıkları için yeni yeni başlıyorlardı. Hazal ve Anja'nın yardımı ile başardılar. Ben ise plat form ve bilgisayar kullanarak fotoğraf çekmeyi ilk defa öğrendim. Tabiki çok yavaştım ama Cem'in yardımı sayesinde biraz daha hızlanabildim. Çay molasında ve öğle yemeğinde yeni insanlarla tanıştık. Bulgaristan'dan gelen restoratörler ve hemen hemen tüm ekiple. İlk defa ekip olarak kazı evinde çalışmış olmamıza rağmen herkes gayet iyi adapte olmuş gözüküyordu ve bence başarılı bir çalışma günü geçirdik.
We made a good start to the day, with 16 tracts walked before breaktime (07:00-09:15). Everyone was fairly quiet for the first leg of the day, I presume from End of Week Exhaustion, rather than any particular reason for low morale.
Team A this morning comprised Néhémie, Çağatay, Hazal, Birce and myself. (Anja, Cem and Toby worked as a small Team B).
As we munched our second breakfast, the film crew (led by Gerd Lamper) explained their plan to us for the shoot. They wanted to film us walking a tract as we came over the horizon - I still maintain that a suitable soundtrack for such a scene would be the ‘Indiana Jones’ theme song.
It took two takes of the tract to satisfy the camera man, then he took some close ups: Birce using her counter, and Néhémie taking some notes. Toby and Anja were then called over for their fifteen (/two?) minutes of fame, as they were interviewed on survey methodology. Meanwhile, the rest of us (the same team as before, plus Cem) got back to work and walked 10 more tracts before lunch break.
After a quick sandwich and an apple, Anja and Hazal left for the excavation house, and the rest of us got back onto the plateau for more tract walking. The first two tracts were simple, but 3143-3147 were taken on a curve around the hill’s slope. It took 45 minutes to stagger around the sheer and unforgiving hill, and what we lacked in sherd count we made up for in cuts and bruises from thorns!
Anja and Hazel were waiting with the van at the bottom of the hill (to rescue us) at 14:40.
The weather on top of the plateau, while still characteristcally sunny and hot, was pleasantly breezy - the first cooling breeze I have experienced since arriving in Turkey this time last week.
It was an uneventful day in the dog department.
Bugün günlerden çarşamba ve alıştırma amaçlı geçilen ilk günü saymaz isek bugün araştırmaların ikinci günü. Gün başlayalı henüz beş buçuk saat olmuştu ki, tele- fonumun alarmı ile uyandım. Dün araştırmalara katılan Çelik Çağatay paylaşıyorum artık odayı. Hazırlanıp beraber kahvaltıya indik. Bizden önce orada olan tek isim Michael'dı. Nehemie ve Birce biraz daha geç geldiler. 6:30 civarında beyaz Volkswagen Transporter kapıda göründü. Anja ve Toby bizi almak için geldiler. Otelin hazırladığı erzağıda alıp dün çalıştığımız alana doğru yola koyulduk. Sabah vakti ben dahil herkes dinç görünüyordu. Ancak bizi bir de öğlen görmeliy- diniz.
Not : Bugün ekip 7 kişi. Anja, Nehemie, Toby, Cem, Michael, Birce ve Çağatay. Tarama esnasında 5 kişi olmak yeterli ve henüz 10 kişi olamadığımız için de tek grupla çalışmalara devam ediyoruz. Böylece İki kişiye arazideki işler konusunda daha az ihtiyacımız oluyor. Bu nedenle Anja bir süre sonra kazıevine giderek dün bulduğumuz seramikleri incelemeye koyuldu. Efsanevi Toby ise arazide tarama eki- bine yardım etti.
Güne 3035 numaralı alan üzerinde yapılan tarama ile başlandı. İl tarama sonunda saatler 7:04'ü gösteriyordu. Yaklaşık olarak her on dakikada bir alanı tarayabi- liyoruz. Hedefimiz dünü geçmekti ki, gün sonunda bunu da başardık. 9:30 da ilk molamızı verdik ve Öğle yemeği vaktinde arayı kısa tutup, günü 14:00 da noktala- dık. Gün sonunda taranan son alanın numarası 3072 idi. Bunun yanısıra 3043 numa- ralı alanda duvar olabilecek bir hat gözlemlendi ve kaydedildi.
Araziden sonra toplanan seramikleri bırakmak üzere kazıevine uğradık. Bizi Anja karşıladı ve dün bulunan birkaç seramik hakkında bize bilgi verdi. Ardından ote- le döndük. Gün içerisinde sıcaktan öyle bunalmışız ki, kendimizi havuzda bulduk. Tabi yalnızca 10 dakikalığına. Havuzdan sonra çalışma odasına geçtik. Biraz ça- lışmanın ardından günü tamamladık.
Gün içerisinde Toby'nin dün gösterdiği destansı kahramanlık dilden dile dolaştı. Yanlış saymadıysam 3- belki 40 kadar köpeğe karşı gösterdiği cesaret türüne az rastlanılacak cinstendi. Artık bir sloganımız var: “Toby varsa, korkulacak bir şey yok.” :))
It was the first day of intensive survey. Breakfast was at 5:45, we jumped into the car at 6:30 and headed to the North of Didim. Anja, Toby, Michael, Cem, Birce and Néhémie were sitting in the car.
The team started with a test walk to discuss sherd counts and visibility assessment. After this warm-up, Anja, Michael, Cem, Birce and Néhémie - the best team of the day (Team A) - started to survey. Of course Toby pretended that he would help the team and instead of walking spent most of the day sipping ice tea in the shadow :p
Survey started on the plateau between Sulubarak deresi, Yassı tepe and the neighborhood called Aegean Heights 1
On one of the highest point of this area, Toby and Anja had recorded the POI 1021 last Thursday (2015.08.27) and we surveyed it from east to west. Near to the POI the concentration of ceramic was high but decreased quickly. After tract 3012 we had our second breakfast break. Simit and poğaça for everyone.
For tracts 3013 - 3025 we walked backwards (to the east) directly south on the first tracks and ate lunch under a nice lonely tree from 11:30 to 12:00.
We started to walk westwards again, on the south of the morning’s tracts but everyone started to show signs of tiredness and we decided to stop after tract 3033 (13:30). The weather forecast announced 34°C for midday.
I have the feeling that everyone was happy that we did so much for a first day. Let’s see how it will go tomorrow!
Just after the 2nd breakfast, as Toby was walking ahead to mark the tract, he was attacked by a pack of at least 6 dogs (he said 8). We were all scared from the barking and we had to throw stone to keep them away … Quite unpleasant!
Today was designed to be a crash-course in survey methodology, in setting up our desks in the excavation house at Didim and trying out field/tract-walking in the field next door.
Timetable
07:15-09:00 General introduction: methodology, etc.
09:00-09:30 Set up desk in ‘museum’
09:30-10:00 Çay molası
10:00-12:00
These were test tracts of course and do not form part of the 'final’ results, even if they will appear in Tract data produced by ODK.
[image1]: images/2015-08-31/.jpg “”
Today AS and TCW concentrated on the area around modern Mavişehir, which stretches from the area of the ‘Panormos necropolis’ west along the coast to the so-called Türk Burnu peninsula. We wanted to see how much of the area could be reasonably walked using intensive methods, as well as visit a couple of Lohmann’s sites in the area. Much of the area just inland of the main part of Mavişehir looks walkable although the plans for development in the area make it seem urgent to look before the area is covered in further tatil sitesi.
The first aim was to visit to site of the church of Ayios Konstantinos which is on a spur overlooking a sheltered bay which might offer an alternative location for Panormos. Not much is left of the church, except for some spoilia in a private garden next door to the beach, part of which is covered with concrete, and with a handsome bust of Atatürk looking west out to sea. The neighbour’s dog was particularly loud, and the area is now bordered by a gigantic hotel (the Anadolu) which seems somewhat out of keeping with the otherwise more modest siteler in the area.
Whilst trying to identify a sherd scatter from Lohmann’s catalogue (S ###), AS and TCW had a chance to see the end of the windswept peninsula of Türk burnu, which offers a good view up the bay of Panormos toward Tavşan Adası.
A light patch on the satellite imagery from the area also led us to a overgrown thicket, which turned out to be a substantial illegal excavation. In the excavation was the remains of (what would have otherwise been) an almost intact stone-cist grave. The shape of the hill, suggests that this was built as a kind of tumulus.
Sadly a digger seems to have been used to reach the grave (though it is not clear why this point was chosen… it is not obvious why anyone could know the grave was there). The lid of the cist had been opened and the contents (including the remains of at least 2 individuals and some plain tiles) rummaged-through.
![Cist grave, POI ####][image1]
[image1]: dailylog/images/2015-08-29/cist-grave.jpg “”
Today the aim of the extensive was to focus more closely on the area just to the north of Panormos to examine a few nodes identified by Lohmann and get an idea of the landscape above the coastal road with a view to potential for intensive survey.
The first destination was Çadır Tepe, identified in Lohmann’s catalogue as S 118, and cited as a potential Classical era (5th-4th century) defensive structure. The site definitely commands an impressive position with excellent visibility of the whole coastal strip, including the Temple, Monodendri, the Panormos harbour and even the island of Lade and entrance to the former Gulf of Miletos.
The top of this conical hill, standing separately from the main hills, was very difficult to climb (and descend) due to the thick maquis coverage and steep slope. There was a scatter of sherds (tiles and ceramics) across the thinly-vegetated plateau top. There was also evidence for both older and recent illegal excavations of differing size: besides shallow pits on top; on the north-east side, there was a large section which was probably recently dynamited (with the rubble preserving the drill-holes from the inserting the dynamite), it is doubtful much was found; on the southern tip, a large circular structure had also been recently dug (perhaps with the help of machinery). This circular structure and its masonry was very impressive: apparently representing something like a cistern (though little mortar evident) or perhaps foundations for a circular tower (though very monumental for such a simple need). Dating rather difficult.
Following this AS and TCW set off to try to locate a concentration of obsidian, known as S 577 in Lohmann’s catalogue. Though the co-ordinates were not included in the catalogue, there was a description of the location of this find of obsidian (presumably representing a workshop?) which we thought we could identify as #########. Avoiding road blocks, unsuitable roads and sheep-dogs meant it took a long time to actually reach the place. Once there, we were unable to identify any obsidian however. There was a thin scatter of difficult-to-date sherds.
Today the purpose of the extensive reconnaissance was to examine the valleys around Panormos, and in particular look inland from the Panormos region, and to better understand the approach to the Temple of Didyma from different directions (e.g. from Panormos or from inland). The aim was to get an idea of the landscape just inland of Panormos and to think about alternative paths of the ‘sacred way’.
We first examined the valley immediately to the north of the necropolis valley (followed by the Sulubarak Deresi stream, and a potential site for geoarchaeological examination). The road running inland is suitable mostly for farm vehicles but the bus was able to drive there easily enough which will make intensive easier. At some point the road splits and we took it southward and up a valley which heads towards to the temple. In top of this hill we took photographs and happened across a dense ceramic scatter (incl. tiles and ceramics) which suggested the presence of a farmstead (Roman?), 1021.
Following this, we took the main road down to Mavişehir again and headed down the next valley to the north (and inland), again just below the necropolis. Here we started following a cobbled road, which ultimately led us all the way to the Akbük->Milas highway road… i.e. the inland Assesos road. The cobbled street was lined with larger side-stones and was built very regularly. Along the way there were numerous wells (now covered in concrete fittings, but presumably older), two 'modern’ cemeteries (pre-1970s) and a large domed cistern. It seems highly likely that this road and cistern are Ottoman structures.
Whether or not the first part of this cobbled street overlies to route of the older Roman (or even older Archaic?) sacred way, as suggested by Peter Schneider was very difficult to confirm.
On this trip along a relatively deserted landscape (besides a few field houses/farms, fields and animals and lots of maquis), we were surprised to be overtaken by 3 open-top jeeps full of half-naked tourists firing water pistols at each other, with the 'adventure’ jeeps driving at 60-70kph on the road and on adjacent fields. Having seen them before in town, we now understood what was meant by adventure’. We took a sneaky photo of them when we caught up with them at the large domed structure…
After the long trip to Assesos, AS and TCW returned to the (relative) sanctuary of Apollo and took a walk along the oft-called 'sacred way’, which heads down to hill towards Panormos. We wanted to see what is still visible from the road (both from the earlier Tuchelt excavations, and the direction it continues in). Once reaching the modern Shell garage (under which, the line of the road presumably continues) it was no long possible to follow the line - presumably it follows the line of the modern road, but the industrial development of this zone (which must have disturbed any archaeology) makes it too difficult to see the surface.
We were surprised to find an inscribed milestone lying awkwardly in a pit in the olive grove just beyond the excavated zone of the sacred way (at POI 1031), and sad to see another apparent robbers trench a bit further along (at POI 1032).
After some re-design of the digital forms in the morning and a brief interlude to sort out practicalities following yesterday’s minor vehicle issues, AS and TCW set off east along the Didim–Milas highway to the area around ancient Assesos. The main purpose was to visit a couple of sites identified in Lohman’s survey but outside our survey region in order to gain some idea of what we might expect of the earliest (pre-Iron Age) material from the peninsula, namely sites S159 (recorded as a EBA pithos necropolis) and S197 (a site with reported 2nd millennium finds). We also want to see the plateau site of Assesos itself (also reported as having Mycenaean finds) for an idea of the landscape in this area.
All three locations proved interesting, though initially it was difficult to work out how to get to S197, part of which may have now been truncated by the modern highway.
S159 (the EBA pithos 'necropolis’) is located in an weirdly-empty pre-planned new town (the streets are there but almost no houses). The site itself is covered in a carpet of stones which the pithoi were presumably inserted into. Some old robber pits were visible, though mostly they seem to be backfilled with the stones.
More worryingly, at Assesos, a bulldozer had obviously been used to excavate a big (5x3m) trench, out of which were strewn about some large finely cut architectural blocks, a number of tiles and sherds, and even some fragments of sculpted blocks (e.g. column capital 'scroll’). The fact that this site was clearly visible from the main highway is certainly worrying. It seems unlikely that the perpetrators found anything much of financial worth, but sadly may have destroyed archaeological context (and thus local heritage) in the process.
The site is in an impressive location on top of a spur which overlooks both the Meander valley (and the pass through to the Bafa lake), as well as the fields behind to Akbük.
Today was the first day of extensive training. AS and TCW set off to Monodendri (Tekağac Burnu) to visit the site of the famous presumed sanctuary, to visit a few other sites recorded in Lohman’s earlier survey work and to test the GPS and data logging capabilities of the Garmin Monterra.
All in all it was a successful day, a number of POIs were created with photographs, including Monodendri itself (Z1000), and some areas of high pottery density (including Archaic sherds, Z1004-1008) on top of the hill above the Fener Caddesi, adjacent to Yenihisar Tepe, some of which was apparently already recognised by Lohmann’s survey.
Some minor issues with the ODK forms were recognised as needing correction (i.e. the ‘Built structure’ POI type was not working; a photo-only POI is needed; some additional simplicity is required).
The day was marred by a minor kaza with another car upon parking which will need sorting in the morning.