My time here so far has begun to show me the full extent of what my body can do, both in the sense that I am now very aware of the limits created by my lack of physical exercise before this, but also in that I can see what my body can possibly do when I push myself. Though I am more physically tired than I have ever been (and that’s saying something, as someone with chronic fatigue issues), I can also feel how much stronger I’ve become in this short time. Each time I take a wheelbarrow down to the dumping point, I remember that during the first week, I could barely take the wheelbarrow down that same hill without tripping over my own feet. Though I still often have to sit down after taking buckets of dirt and rock, or running the wheelbarrow, I am very aware that at the beginning of this trip, I could only take one bucket that was two-thirds full. Now, I can take two full buckets at once. It is an incredibly satisfying experience, and something that makes the physical pain and exhaustion worth it.
Relating to the physical development aspect, I have realized that archaeology is a very athletic career path–-at least, if you intend to be in the field full time, and actually assist in excavation. It is through this that I see how much of a physical interaction with the past archeology is. That may sound incredibly obvious—how could archeology not be physical? What I mean is that this work takes into account every aspect of the physical. We are not just looking at the remains and old objects we find in the ground. We are looking at objects and places not as stationary things but as the results of intricate movement.
Experiencing life in a modern Turkish city has influenced my understanding of Antiochia as the remains of a living city because I can see people living and flourishing in this environment. As a person from a cooler and more temperate region, I had no grasp on the daily life of people in this kind of environment until I came here. Seeing the modern technologies that people utilize today informs my understanding of why things were constructed as they were in ancient Antiochia. All of the technological advancements that people have made to enable them to live comfortably in this place doesn’t mean that people just sort of suffered through living here before. While many modern developments here are now equipped with air conditioning, ancient houses were built to keep cool air in during the summer, and warm air in during the winter. Windows placed higher in the walls, deep basements for storing things that needed to be kept cool, outdoor-indoor spaces that allowed for continuous airflow, and clever directional orientation all allowed ancient people to live in comfortable, regulated homes. The more I see of what we excavate and understand about the site in general shows me how intelligently this city was laid out in accordance with both tradition/culture, and also environment.
