If you’re reading this, my time in Gazipaşa has come to an end (for now) and the time has come for me to impart my wisdom onto the next souls who will embark on this journey of dusty sinuses, curiosity, and rocks. I think a question many may ask is, “after all those adventures, would you do it all again?” My short answer is “yes”, however, if one wishes to do this program, they should know at least a few things:
- Learning Turkish is not easy — but you should try anyway (focus on ordering foods, numbers, and basic phrases like “good morning/afternoon/evening”, “please”, “thank you”, and such) I really wish I had learned more Turkish before coming on this trip
- You will work very hard — but that isn’t a bad thing. Gazipaşa is very warm (arguably hot on some days) and often humid. The dust from digging will get into your sinuses. You will be carrying/moving heavy buckets and wheelbarrows of rocks and soil, as well as heavy rocks. Try to do some strength training before you arrive, especially to strengthen your knees. My knees went through a lot of stress without being very strong and it led to some knee pains that prevented me from doing the work normally.
- Get comfortable squatting– you do not want to sit on the ground and have a scorpion climb up to say hi (speaking from experience)
- Consider a cushion — when you do pottery washing (Tues and Thurs each week), you will likely be sitting on concrete in one way or another hunched over a water basin like Gollum guarding his Precious. This may hurt more than digging and a cushion may provide a teensy amount of relief. You can get some very affordable ones at 82 Sali Pazari so you don’t have to bring one with you
- The town is very walkable — keep in mind it is also very hot and humid, and you will be very tired after each dig day so you can try to plan your fun activities around the weekend (unless you have boundless levels of energy, then, y’know, you can do anything and should be feared)
- For souvenirs — go to the Night Market (Halk Market) for great jewelry and handcrafts, go to 82 Sali Pazari (or other places you can buy clothes) for funny shirts and stuff, go to any convenience store (I preferred A101 because it was closest but all are good options) for snack souvenirs
I’m sure there is more advice I could impart, however I think this is a good start. The most important thing to consider is that no matter how you go about this trip, it will change you. It will open you up to new perspectives about the impact of archaeological research in a modern context, what it means for local communities, and the struggles and rewards of working with people who are (a little to very) different from you. Personally, I feel like I learned the most about the people of Gazipaşa’s interest in the research. I hadn’t considered very much what influence the research has on their cultural identity and their livelihood. (Aside from that, I learned a lot about the intricate nature of adults being kids)
Going back to the question: “After all those adventures, would you do it all again?” I said yes. This experience has been very enlightening for me. I really loved the methodical work, where you can see your progress every day and touch the things you learn about in textbooks. I hope to continue similar or related work with a specific interest in how museums and archaeological sites appeal to tourists and visitors while also balancing archaeologists’ work, preservation of artifacts, restorations and how accurate those restorations are. I would love to do fieldwork like this again and hopefully gain more experience with lab work as well.