Tell Tour

For one of our days off, we went on the customary tour of tells in the area. Our first stop was Zincirli, an excavation run by the Oriental Institute.

Here we get a tour from the director of the site. 

We stopped for lunch, and look, another wedding!

Next was Tilmen Hoyuk, which did not appear to be expecting visitors. It is ostensibly 

an archaeological park, but they seem to be working on the entrance.

The grand stairway at Tilmen Hoyuk.

Watch out where you step. 

The views from the site are rather spectacular.

A very Turkish motorcycle. 

The last site we visited was the Yesemek quarry and sculpture workshop. Positioned on a hill beneath a 

large basalt outcrop are many partially carved stone lions, sphinxes and weird bear-men.  

This was potentially the source of stone for the lion featured in the last post.

A small herd of donkeys roaming the park.

The sculptures are in various states of completion. Very interesting to see the 

stages of production, especially in light of our lion. 

And then one day...

...they found this.

Antakya Archaeological Museum

The regional museum of Hatay, located in Antakya, is well known for its collection of Roman and Byzantine mosaics. The museum is small, but overflowing with mosaics. Its a lovely museum, and well worth a visit.

Nearly every bit of possible space is used, with mosaics covering the walls and floors. 

Many of the rooms are literally filled floor-to-ceiling. 

Many of the pieces are largely complete, and quite spectacular.

There are also materials from local excavations in several of the galleries, such as this column base 

recovered from Tayinat in the 1930s. All of the important materials from local excavations end up here. 

Occasionally, I have some free time...

A Wedding

The whole team was very graciously invited to a wedding one evening, for a family member of one of the Tayinat crew members. We often hear the sounds of weddings in the surrounding area - they are immediately identifiable by the loud drums of the wedding band playing late into the night. I was very excited to see what a Turkish wedding was like, and wear the only nice outfit I brought with me to Turkey.

When we got to the wedding hall, the bride and groom had not yet arrived. The event was held in a large building, which I believe is largely used for weddings and similar events. It was huge, and had tiered bleacher-esque seating. Everyone sits at tables around the room, and there is a stand selling food and drinks near the entrance.

Waiting for the bride and groom to arrive. 

The entrance way. 

A young guest, who seemed intrigued by our presence there.

 The bride and groom had the customary first dance when they arrived.  

After that the dancing never stopped. The bride and groom danced around the room, in Turkish style with their arms raised, separately and then together. Then they led circle dances for the guests. Later they each danced around the room throwing roses at the guests and dancing with people as they walked around. And on top of all that there were songs just for the guests to dance to. So much dancing.

The guests take over the circle dancing, and things start to get very lively.

The bride making one of her dancing rounds around the room. She 

was an incredible dancer, I must say. 

The Tayinat staff enjoying the festivities. 

One of the greatest parts was the band playing music throughout the night. They were incredible, and incredibly loud. I have no idea what the songs were, but the crowd seemed to know and love them, and I'm assuming they were normal Turkish wedding songs. Below is the wedding singer and one of the drummers, in the striped shirts.

The drummers go around the room and choose a person to stop in front of. 

That person has to get up and do their own little freestyle dance. 

At the very end of the night, just when we thought it was time to go home, they lowered the lights. Instant after-party, and the dancing began again. A fantastic evening!

  

Continued adventures in Antakya

More pictures from around the city.

This is Jake, our epigrapher. Like most epigraphers he is tortured and moody, but we are 

very impressed with his ability to read very small cuneiform. We salute you!

Turkish pizza often has corn on it. Why, I don't know. Its actually not terrible though.

This place also gives you small cocktail forks for pickles and fries. Such service.  

This seems like a tricky fire escape to me, although I do find it

aesthetically appealing in a strange way. 

A Trip to the Tax Office

Most of the time forced trips to a tax office are rather unpleasant, and trips to government offices in a foreign country can be a nightmare. So when the entire team marched down to the tax office to fill out paperwork, we were expecting the worst. But, as it turns out, having an adorable 8-month-old as part of the crew is an incredible asset in Turkey.

Suddenly, crowds were gathering. We were the talk of the whole office.

Tea was brought for everyone.

And baby Lucy was given her first solid food. 

The reaction to which was priceless. 

And, amazingly, we all got through the paperwork smoothly and with a great deal of courtesy. So lesson learned...don't conduct any official business in Turkey without a very cute baby in tow.