After a 10 hour layover in Istanbul airport which I am convinced was actually purgatory, I arrived safely at the dighouse in Gazipasa this past Wednesday. The most noticeable thing immediately upon arrival was the heat. It is a rather overbearing height. The kind of heat that laughs maniacally as its omnipresence leeches every last bit of moisture out of ones body, leaving a withered husk of a human being begging for water as it attempts to hide rather noticeable sweat stains. It takes copious amounts of water and a brisk open breeze to fight this kind of heat, but fight it we must, and fight it we will. Of course that was only the first thing I noticed, and I did arrive at night. In the light of the day I found something far more significant and even more omnipresent in the land of Anatalya, an overwhelming sense of history. Indeed, from the Acropolis of Antiochia ad Cragum, the already storied site upon which we are working, one is able to see both a Byzantine fortress, and a cove used by Pirates as a safe haven. Views from the dighouse where we abide include the ruins of Selinus, the town where the Emperor Trajan met his end. The road to the beach features an ancient aqua-duct, and from the beach itself several different ruins can be observed.
To face these artifacts of the past at every turn is frankly a bit overwhelming. Even greater than the sensation of being in the midst of such history however, is the sensation of being in the midst of uncovering pieces of said history. The sense of sheer elation that comes with uncovering each sherd of pottery is indescribable. Within the first ten minutes of our first day of work, that layover which I am positive will be retold on a therapy couch someday already seemed worth it. I look forward to getting back to work, and uncovering even more of the past.