Week 4 -- July 22 to 25
For anyone who is interested in weather, on July 26th at 6:21 am central time, the temperature in Omaha, NE was 64 degrees Fahrenheit. At the same time in Antalya Turkey (2:21 pm), the temperature was 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today is our day off, and time to recollect an exciting and progress-filled work week. A variety of projects were started during the period of time that the crane was not on the field. The engineering students continued our work on determining the temple's design, construction, and dimensions. Working inductively from the evidence found within the temple mound, we used surveying to find a very reasonable estimation of the temple's width. We then sketched plan and elevation views of the temple mound. From this. we retraced the construction of the temple by measuring different types of blocks that would have been stacked on top of each other centuries ago. We are attempting to create a detailed 3D rendering of the temple as it once was, thus making it necessary for us to study the site and ancient architecture so that we can make inferences. Luckily, we have talented professors and students from the other two university teams who are able and willing to provide us with the information we need.
A recent discovery has put a slight kink in our design of the temple, however. In the trench of an archaeology student, crowning moulding was found on what was originally thought to be the podium (platform). A crowning moulding is intended to be viewed from underneath, thus indicating that the platform is at least another 2 meters down (so that a person could stand under what is now considered the creppice of the temple). We are fairly certain that the lower level of the temple was a chamber, with walls visible (not dirt covered) around the entire outside of the temple. Since the west side of the temple is not preserved, we are not sure how these walls were constructed. Hopefully, further excavation on the North side of the mound (where Billy's trench is located, pictured left) will reveal more clues.
The excitement did not end there, fortunately. Extensive block, dirt, and rock removal has shown us a wall built perpendicular to the temple in a post-Roman time period. We the wall is Byzantine, and the Byzantine Empire was in control of this area from the late 5th century to the 11th centruy. Since the wall was found under collapsed temple pieces, we must assume that the temple collapsed after the 5th century. Assuming that this wall (pictured lower left) and the byzantine wall discovered within one of the trenches on top of 
the temple mound (pictured upper right) were built at nearly the same time, then the temple must have been at least partially intact at that time. During its centuries of use, many alterations have been made to the temple that tend to confuse our vision of how it may have looked. We hope to layer the previously mentioned computer generation of the temple based on its construction (and "deconstruction") in different time periods.
We also began a topographic map of the site and surrounding area of approximately a 200 meters radius. With a total station (which is the machine used to gather surveying data) set up on a tripod on an established point on the temple, Professor Hoff sent out a crack team of students to brave the brush and bugs in order to gather enough points to create a detailed map of the terrain.
Also during this week, Professor Hoff made a "squeeze" of what is one of the longest ancient oracle readings in Turkey, which happens to be at our temple site (pictured below). In order to make the squeeze, which is a technique used to copy writing or carving from a piece of flat stone, beer paper was wet down on the block. Then the air bubbles were brushed out. Finally, the same soft brush was used to embed the paper into the writing. Once the paper dries, a reflected copy of the oracle reading (which was done by local priests to predict the future) is ready to be read by anyone who knows Greek.
On a side note, we continue to enjoy the meals cooked for us at the schoolhouse near the work field. Besides the ever present cay(tea)and delicious corba (soup), we are delighted to once a week find a Turkish desert, such as sutlac (rice pudding). We also look forward to days on which we are given cold cola to drink. Pictured left, UNL student Jarod enjoys one of these meals with a couple of local hired workers.
On the evening before our day off (which we like to refer to as Friday, no matter the actual day of the week), we went as a large group to a restaurant on to of a hill near our hotel. There we all celebrated Dr. Ece Erdogmus's belated birthday (pictured right) with delicious food from what is likely the most upscale restaurant in Gazipasa.
Today is our day off, and time to recollect an exciting and progress-filled work week. A variety of projects were started during the period of time that the crane was not on the field. The engineering students continued our work on determining the temple's design, construction, and dimensions. Working inductively from the evidence found within the temple mound, we used surveying to find a very reasonable estimation of the temple's width. We then sketched plan and elevation views of the temple mound. From this. we retraced the construction of the temple by measuring different types of blocks that would have been stacked on top of each other centuries ago. We are attempting to create a detailed 3D rendering of the temple as it once was, thus making it necessary for us to study the site and ancient architecture so that we can make inferences. Luckily, we have talented professors and students from the other two university teams who are able and willing to provide us with the information we need.
A recent discovery has put a slight kink in our design of the temple, however. In the trench of an archaeology student, crowning moulding was found on what was originally thought to be the podium (platform). A crowning moulding is intended to be viewed from underneath, thus indicating that the platform is at least another 2 meters down (so that a person could stand under what is now considered the creppice of the temple). We are fairly certain that the lower level of the temple was a chamber, with walls visible (not dirt covered) around the entire outside of the temple. Since the west side of the temple is not preserved, we are not sure how these walls were constructed. Hopefully, further excavation on the North side of the mound (where Billy's trench is located, pictured left) will reveal more clues. 
The excitement did not end there, fortunately. Extensive block, dirt, and rock removal has shown us a wall built perpendicular to the temple in a post-Roman time period. We the wall is Byzantine, and the Byzantine Empire was in control of this area from the late 5th century to the 11th centruy. Since the wall was found under collapsed temple pieces, we must assume that the temple collapsed after the 5th century. Assuming that this wall (pictured lower left) and the byzantine wall discovered within one of the trenches on top of 
the temple mound (pictured upper right) were built at nearly the same time, then the temple must have been at least partially intact at that time. During its centuries of use, many alterations have been made to the temple that tend to confuse our vision of how it may have looked. We hope to layer the previously mentioned computer generation of the temple based on its construction (and "deconstruction") in different time periods.We also began a topographic map of the site and surrounding area of approximately a 200 meters radius. With a total station (which is the machine used to gather surveying data) set up on a tripod on an established point on the temple, Professor Hoff sent out a crack team of students to brave the brush and bugs in order to gather enough points to create a detailed map of the terrain.
Also during this week, Professor Hoff made a "squeeze" of what is one of the longest ancient oracle readings in Turkey, which happens to be at our temple site (pictured below). In order to make the squeeze, which is a technique used to copy writing or carving from a piece of flat stone, beer paper was wet down on the block. Then the air bubbles were brushed out. Finally, the same soft brush was used to embed the paper into the writing. Once the paper dries, a reflected copy of the oracle reading (which was done by local priests to predict the future) is ready to be read by anyone who knows Greek.
On a side note, we continue to enjoy the meals cooked for us at the schoolhouse near the work field. Besides the ever present cay(tea)and delicious corba (soup), we are delighted to once a week find a Turkish desert, such as sutlac (rice pudding). We also look forward to days on which we are given cold cola to drink. Pictured left, UNL student Jarod enjoys one of these meals with a couple of local hired workers.
On the evening before our day off (which we like to refer to as Friday, no matter the actual day of the week), we went as a large group to a restaurant on to of a hill near our hotel. There we all celebrated Dr. Ece Erdogmus's belated birthday (pictured right) with delicious food from what is likely the most upscale restaurant in Gazipasa.
posted by Holly Brink at 4:16 AM
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