One thing I learned while in Turkey was the importance of leaving rocks where they are until they are ready to come out on their own. When we first started excavating our unit, my group was careful to leave the rocks in, which allowed us to document the wall fall and learn about how the walls of our building fell. After progressing down a ways, we began to get impatient and pulling out rocks that were not fully uncovered. Then, on the second to last day, we discovered what we thought was a short wall running through the middle of our unit. We later discovered that it was not a wall, but part of a stone floor elevated above where we thought the floor would be. Had we pulled those rocks out before we uncovered them all, we would not have noticed the pattern and possibly disassembled the entire stone surface. It is therefore important to make sure that you leave large objects where they are until you know for certain that there are no patterns.
My most memorable experience here was visiting the mountain festival on one of our weekend excursions. I got to try lots of food and drinks, and there was a variety of other types of shops as well. At some of those shops, you could even buy Turkish rugs made with human hair. There was also a mechanical bull, some extreme seesaws, and you could ride camels. I had a lot of fun at the festival, and brought home a few souvenirs as well.
Working on this project has changed my perspective on being an archeologist. When I envisioned an archeologist, I imagined an old person identifying and studying anything found at a dig site. Now I know that archeologists actually have to do a lot of dirty work, such as clearing trees and large rocks, before being able to do the identifying and studying of finds. In a way, this actually made archeology more appealing to me because there is something rewarding about clearing all the debris as well as finding the artifacts.
One piece of advice I would offer future participants is that you need to be mentally and physically prepared to do hard labor. This year, I believe that a large portion of us were not prepared for the amount of work we would have to do before being able to do “actual archeology,” and were therefore not as efficient at clearing as we could have been. Unfortunately, archeology is more than just sifting through soil, you first have to be able to get to that soil.
If I had the chance to participate in another archeological dig, I would go. I found the work rewarding even though it could be tough at times. The other participants on this trip also made the work a lot of fun, and I imagine that there is a similar environment every year at this site and possibly at other sites around the world. It was also a lot of fun to be in a foreign country and learn about the culture and customs of the people here. Overall, I had a great experience that lived up to all of my expectations, and I would gladly do it again if I had the chance.
