Amongst the lengthy list of skills and experiences I’ve gained during my time in Turkey, heightened awareness of my power as an individual and archaeologist sits atop. Indubitably, the heat and humidity, rock hauling, pick axing, back aching daily regimen has pushed my mental and physical limits, validating the promises I make to myself. It is my shifted consciousness toward the touch of my fingers and the scrape of my trowel, however, that has placed the power that I hold in this moment, at this site, and in this country, within the greater themes of attachment, intent, and faculty in damaging and healing.
Now, there is such a clear divide between “pre-Turkey” and “post-Turkey.” When I pick up a coin that may have settled a bet with a simple Constantine-heads-or-tails, I maintain a heightened sense of awareness of the rippling effects of my touch on the lives of not only the people in present day Turkey, but those who lived here before me.