As a sociology and anthropology major, I find the concept of space fascinating. How the environment in which people live shapes their lives, and in turn how people change their own environments to make it more suitable to the kind of lives they wish to live is interesting to me. A prime example of this that I have noticed here in Gazipasa is the way the people farm. Gazipasa is a mountainous place, with seemingly thin, rocky soil (as far as I can tell), and a fair amount of short, scrubby vegetation. At first glance it does not seem like a location that is really meant for farming. However, the people who live an work here have made certain adjustments that make farming the land possible. They do not have wide, flat fields such as the corn and wheat plots that come to mind when one thinks about places like Iowa and Kansas, but this mountainous region uses two main techniques that seem to be effective for this southern part of Turkey.
The first technique the people of Gazipasa have implemented to make farming feasible is terracing- cutting step-like plots into the hillsides so that their crops have a flat place to grow, and so it is easier for them to tend to the crops. The second method I’ve noted here is the use of covered greenhouses, which I would hypothesize are used as another way to localize crops to a contained area, making them easier to tend, and would also allow for a more efficient system of water delivery during the hot, humid, summers that are absent of rain. At this point in the summer (beginning of August), I’ve seen mostly tomatoes being grown in the greenhouses; there are also corn stalks that grow in single, straight rows right in between the greenhouses. Clearly, every inch of space is important and is used. By implementing these different farming methods, the people of Gazipasa are able to extend the natural growing season- their cool, rainy winters- to maximize their food/crop production.
The photos below are of the greenhouses near our dig house and of the terracing on the mountainsides visible from our dig site on the acropolis.
The people of Gazipasa have altered their environment to suit their farming needs by terracing the hilly landscapes and constructing greenhouses, which makes food production easier and the growing season longer. However, these alterations would not have come about if the land itself had not had the natural geography it does. The hilliness of the terrain and the consistency of the soil have necessitated the changes the people have made to the land and play a huge role in how people can and do live their lives here. The relationship between people and the space that they inhabit goes both ways, and farming techniques in Gazipasa are a great example of how people both change and are changed by the land in which they live.
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