i'm not an archaeologist, not yet a geologist [part V--week 4 and final thoughts]

Week 4, the final excavation week, was comprised of a number of activities. The first priority was finishing the trenches and getting to work on the sketches of them. The trenches were to be backfilled the following week, so there was a significant deadline.

Sepi’s trench (finally) closed early in the week—it was a two week excavation for that one! Robert’s finished soon thereafter and all the workmen were sent up to Tuna’s trench. Having all the workmen in one place was a difficult thing, especially when there wasn’t enough work to keep everyone busy. Usually, having more workmen is actually detrimental because they just talk and take cigarette breaks. That was definitely the case in Tuna's trench. Eventually, however, everything got done and drawing began.

Throughout the early part of the week, I continued to be a swing person going from trench to trench. Then, Wednesday came around.

A film crew from National Geographic was coming to Kerkenes on August 10 and the Palace had to be cleaned up. I didn’t know it, but Scott and Geoff had decided that I would be responsible for getting that done. I was just told that I would be getting up early on Wednesday and going up to the site. So, on Wednesday morning I went up to the palace with Scott, Geoff, and most of the workmen. Noel and Tiffin also came up for an hour or so to fill the holes from Nuri and Pinar’s coring. It was actually a pretty entertaining ride up because we caught Adnan coming out from peeing behind a tree that was mostly out in the open.

We arrived at the site and unloaded the Land Rover. At that point, I was still in the dark about what I was going to be doing. I was pretty confused, but expected Scott and Geoff to say something. The guys were asking me what we were supposed to do. I said “I don’t know” and that’s when I realized that Scott and Geoff were getting in the Land Rover and about to drive away…without having told me what to do!

So, here I am, looking like an idiot as I go chasing after them to ask what I’m supposed to do. I didn’t know if they’d be coming back or what.

I catch up to them and that’s when Scott tells me that the workmen and I will be spending the day…weeding.

Oh, really?
Yep.

And, that’s what I did instead of looking at rocks. I weeded the palace area. We did some other stuff, too, like backfill an old trench and move some particularly dangerous blocks—an amazing sight, I must say…I have never seen strength and teamwork to the level I saw there. But, most of the day was spent weeding and sweeping.

I won’t lie—I was frustrated at first. I wanted to be doing some of my field work because I had been told that in this last week I would be able to. I didn’t expect to be cleaning and weeding and trying to allocate a days worth of work to 10 workmen who had been wary of me since the beginning.

But, while the work was mundane and not really what I had expected to be doing with my time, that day turned out to be quite an outstanding one. It was really the culmination of the prior three weeks and the day when I finally gained Tahir’s respect. I mean, to have Tahir engage me in civil conversation and listen when I ask him to do something that bores the living daylights out of him...it's a real accomplishment!

Honestly, it was incredible. I was in charge of six strong-willed, highly opinionated, egotistical workmen…who accepted me, respected me, listened to me, talked with me, and joked with me. Gone was all the belittling and disappointment. When it was mealtime they actually called me over to sit with them, saying “you are one of us.” I can’t tell you how wonderful I felt. I had struggled throughout the entire excavation to win them over and develop a decent relationship with the workmen. I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome than what I got on that final day.

Plus, I got to spend the last day of excavation with my favorite workmen.

Lokman

Talking Mehmet

Murat

Tahir

White Hat Mehmet

After the palace clean-up day, the rest of the week was spent sitting in the old trenches in the blazing sun desperately trying to get all the sketches done. I was lucky in that I didn’t have to be alone, I got to work with Tuna, but I had a couple of freak-out moments when I just couldn’t handle being stuck in a small space in the most uncomfortable position possible. I was also a little tired of wearing the same pair of jeans as I had been every day for the whole month…they were just a tad stretched out and uncomfortable.

Sorry, Tuna.
(That poor boy witnessed a couple of freak-out incidents where I just jumped out of the trench screaming. It was both funny and not).

And then it was over.

I was supposed to leave on June 30^th, but I ended up getting sick—puking and feeling generally dead—so, I stayed an extra day. Ironically, the day I got sick was the same day that Ismael Bey, a.k.a. Not Cool Representative, left because of family issues. A new rep came and he was quite an interesting fellow...

Young guy, knew a good bit of English, seemed to have a good sense of humor. However, immediately upon walking around the dig house he said, "there's no television and internet here? Television and internet are my life!" Yeah, he wasn't exactly an outdoorsy kind of guy.

Additionally, he claimed to be very health conscious even though he ate a lot of junk food and wasn't exactly slim. But, with all his nutritional knowledge it meant that we were subjected to meals where he continuously touted the benefits of Turkish lavas bread while exaggerating the horrors of eating regular bread...because, apparently, yeast is really really super bad for you! And yet, he drank him self a whole bunch of yeast infested beer. And, for someone so health conscious [he was a vegetarian, too], he sure ate a lot of Betty Crocker Cake Frosting with his breakfast.

sidenote: ok, ok, he didn't know what the canister of frosting was. He didn't realize it was for cakes; he thought it was some kind of sweet spreadable cheese or something. But, he tasted it and it was sweet. That usually means it's full of sugar and not so great for you. But, hey, it didn't have yeast in it!

To top it off, the new representative was very...Turk-o-centric. That means, he was a proponent of the [common] mentality here that everything started in Turkey [my grandmother once informed my mother that the Turks taught the Jews how to kosher chicken]. The top two stories he told me were:

1. The Turks taught George Washington how to build a navy and they are responsible for the development of an American navy.

2. Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley descend from Turks.

But, being sick, I mostly just ignored him. He seemed like a decent guy, but I didn't feel the need to engage him in conversation if I was puking.

And so, we've come full circle.
My final thoughts:

Well, I can’t say that the whole experience was anything like what I expected it to be.

Yes, I can say I’m disappointed on many levels. Resources that I expected to have just weren’t there and, in the end, the only geology I had the chance to do was to try and identify some rocks. It was particularly frustrating because my project wasn’t just for me—it was supposed to contribute something to the current and future understanding of Kerkenes and the history of the region.

However, it’s not all bad. In proposing this project my intention was not solely to do geology. I was very much interested in having the experience in archaeology. And, in the end, that is what I ended up getting. In many respects, it wasn’t a traditional archaeological experience, but it did give me some insights into the kinds of ideas and processes used in the field. It was particularly interesting to examine how I approached interpretation compared to the archeologists—it was quite obvious that I was coming from a geologic perspective while they were coming from a more anthropological/archaeological slant.

I just wish there had been more balance between the two fields, that I could have had more opportunities to examine the geology.

But, it is what it is and despite being angry and feeling taken for granted in plenty of instances I did learn a lot. Additionally, I spent a month with a group of incredibly intelligent and interesting people who put me and any ego I have to shame. I only wish I could think and synthesize like Geoff, Scott, Noel, Tuna, Robert, Sepi and Tiffin can.

And then, of course, there was the location—I spent a month in a spectacular [generally forgotten, never visited] part of Turkey. It was the perfect opportunity to learn about Turkish culture/people/thought outside of the Big City. As a female in Turkey it can be hard to have those experiences, so I am grateful to have had the chance.

Finally, there were the Turkish people. More specifically, I’m speaking of the workmen. They taught me a lot and, upon returning to Ankara, I finally felt comfortable with Turkish. Additionally, the people in the village were generally very warm people and were willing to take the time to listen as I struggled to speak Turkish. The young girls who joined me for a few walks were particularly supportive and didn’t treat me like the inept imbecile I was!

Developing my Turkish to a high fluency level was a key goal of my time here and before the dig I was quite upset at how little I had improved. I am eternally grateful to those guys, and to Scott and Geoff, for giving me the chance to be there and be forced to struggle and communicate. If I hadn’t gone to Kerkenes my Turkish would not be halfway to the level it is now. And, it’s only getting better as I continue traveling in Turkey, building upon the speaking skills and vocabulary that I learned at Kerkenes. It really is a swell feeling like you’ve succeeded at reaching a goal.

Experience Grades (outstanding, very good, satisfactory, poor, unsatisfactory):

Research experience: satisfactory
Adherence to original research proposal: unsatisfactory
Fulfillment of expectations: satisfactory
Research and field skills obtained: very good
Language and culture experience: outstanding
People: outstanding
Food: very good
Numbers of tomatoes and cucumbers eaten: outstanding
Time spent outdoors: outstanding
Effect of experience on decisions for the future: very good

Overall: satisfactory!