So far, my experience at Antiochia ad Cragum and Turkey as a whole has been both fantastic and extremely difficult. For me, the heat was really difficult to deal with as I arrived, and it made all the changes around me even harder to deal with. Before we began working on excavation, I took a trip to get supplies from Sali Pasari in town, which is around a 30-minute walk. Not even a quarter of the way into the walk, I felt as if I was going to faint from the heat. After surviving that trip, our walk to the beach as a group also had me feeling like I was going to pass out while walking. I thought that the weather would not be a problem for me, coming from New York where it is consistently high 90s, high humidity, and overall a very similar climate to Turkey; however, I hadn’t considered just how little time I actually spend outdoors in the USA until I had to walk everywhere. Luckily, I have found that as time has passed here in Turkey I have become quickly adjusted to the heat and when I did the same trips again the second weekend, I noted how easy it was for me. On top of the heat, I have really grown to enjoy Turkish culture—many of the shopkeepers and restaurant owners have been extremely kind to us even though we don’t speak a word of Turkish—those that speak English are actively excited to speak with us, and those that do not are still extremely understanding of the language barrier and do their best to communicate despite the challenges. I have struggled to acclimate to the food, but this was not a surprise as I have a hard time with eating a diverse palate even at home. Overall, I think that for only a week in Turkey I have become quite comfortable here, and feel quite confident that I will only continue to grow my appreciation for this country and its people.
Regarding the archaeology itself, there is a lot that I have learned and much of it was unexpected. I didn’t have many preconceived notions of what the dig would be like, and I very much intended to arrive here and find out what I would be doing, rather than try and prepare beforehand. I knew that it would not be a glamorous endeavor with crazy field-changing finds every day, but I was not expecting it to be so. many. rocks (and dirt that gets EVERYWHERE). Nevertheless, I have fully committed to the digging and have really enjoyed working with my unit to uncover our area of the Acropolis (which we suspect to be the courtyard of the house). I have already learned a lot about archeological technique—what are considered best practices, how to dig in a way that we make sure not to miss any artifacts, and how to keep track of the items that we do find so that they can be cataloged for the future. I appreciate how much opportunity there is here to learn proper technique—and while I personally don’t need to know these things for my career, I am glad to see that those on this trip who do want to pursue this professionally are given so much responsibility and opportunity for some truly hands-on learning. I can’t wait to keep working on the site, on my unit, and to keep learning from Professor Howe and our lovely supervisors 😊.