Points of Context

Excursion

Many times on the day off, the heads of the excavation schedule tours and excursions to sites in the area. The first week, they set up a tour of the tells in the immediate vicinity, and the location of a future archaeological park. So we set out in a truck to sightsee.

The gang piles into the truck.

Enjoying the dusty view.

Hiking up to the top of a tell.

Sheeps, as the Italians say.

An outdoor sleeping platform with rolled up bedding, to escape the heat indoors at night. There is a Bedouin tent set up in the field off in the distance.

Tell Mozan

The site I've been working at is Tell Mozan (the ancient city was known as Urkesh), located just outside Qamishli in far northern Syria, just south of the Turkish border. Like most tells (the term for occupation mounds in the Near East), it was occupied for thousands of years. As a result, there is an abundance of material to excavate. They have been excavating there for 23 years now, but have focused largely on third millenium BC material, and the Hurrian use of the site. The dig house is a large complex with working and living areas and a central courtyard, situated on the top of the mound itself. For some reason I never took a picture of the house itself. Oops.

The top of Tell Mozan.

The path leading from the dig house out to the site.

A view of the palace and the village of Mozan.

Sherds waiting to be washed.

The sherd yard, where ceramic analysis takes place.

The eewan (sp?), where we lounge.

The main route through the complex, leading to the kitchen.

My first sunset in Syria.

On a bus, on the side of the road, somewhere outside of Hassake.

Remind me to tell you the story of my arrival in Qamishli. The entire police force of northern Syria seemed to be notified of my arrival in the area, and I can't do the story justice on this blog.

Aleppo

Aleppo was much larger than I was picturing. I might have to make a return trip some time to explore more of the city.

The area outside the citadel.

And, the token panorama. Click for a larger image.

The Citadel

There is a large citadel situated in the center of Aleppo, which towers over the city and dates to the 12^th century. I wasn't planning on a long excursion through the citadel, and didn't bring anything except my sunglasses, and after a couple minutes in the sun I was absolutely exhausted. I haven't sweated that much in a long time. I thought Greece was hot, but I realize now that I was very wrong.

The entrance.

For some reason, I find Arabic graffiti very amusing.

The throne room.

Cannonballs?

Always with the mannequins.

The Souk

I hardly even know where to begin talking about Aleppo's souk. I've been told it is one of the most authentic of Syria's (or even the Middle East's) souks, and has 12km of narrow streets comprising the whole of the market. Within that massive expanse, there are thousands of tiny stalls, each selling a very specific item. What struck me most of all is that this is actually where people do their shopping, and you can find everything there. The concept of the supermarket as we know it does not really exist in Syria, and people comes to the souks to buy their food, as well as anything else you could want. The souk itself dates back to the 13^th century, and remains largely unchanged.

I stepped out of the hotel, and turned the corner into one of the main paths through the souk, only to run very abruptly and hard into the face of a donkey. He stood there looking at me, completely unfazed. I think it was at that exact moment, standing face to face with this donkey, that it really started to sink in that I am actually wandering around in SYRIA. Oh my.