Students at Gordion

2010 Kress interns Emily Hamilton and Elizabeth Drolet getting a tour of the construction of the Midas tomb chamber (the world's oldest standing wooden building) from Dr. Richard Liebhart.

Since the beginning of the Gordion Objects Conservation Program in 1988, training has been a major focus of the program. The generous support of the Kress Foundation has funded numerous conservation interns, allowing them to learn more about how burial and excavation affect the artifacts that end up in collections. It gives students a much deeper understanding of why archaeological objects are deteriorated and damaged and helps them to make better decisions about how to care for them. Working here also gives students an opportunity to more deeply understand how archaeologists study artifacts, and what can be learned from them. It also gives students an opportunity to see how archaeological sites and excavations affect the local community. Here’s a list of some of the things that students at Gordion get to do:

• They work on material excavated over the past 60 years to stabilize, and restore artifacts.
• When excavations are taking place they work on material recovered during the season to clean, stabilize and sometimes reconstruct objects.
• They survey collections on exhibit at the Gordion Museum to look for new damage, and also do projects to improve the aesthetics of old restorations
• They work on projects designed to monitor and ensure the safety of collections not on display.
• They are introduced to the long-term monitoring of the MM (Midas Mound) tomb chamber and help to clean it of debris left over the decades of exposure.
• They work with researchers to stabilize, clean and restore artifacts that are being studied for publication
• They interact with many, many different experts in archaeology, architectural conservation, geology, cultural anthropology and other fields who are all here working and living together.
• They meet Turkish colleagues in cultural heritage, particularly our friends and colleagues from the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara
• They learn how to do good conservation in less than ideal circumstances

Below is a list of the conservators who have worked as part of the Objects Conservation Program:

Sarah Barack

Tom Braun

Angie Chang

Esther Chao

Dena Cirpili

Matt Crawford

Julia Day
Guldem Derinengin

Elizabeth Drolet

Angie Elliott (Head of Objects Conservation 2006 – present)

Emily Hamilton

Cricket Harbeck (Head of Objects Conservation 2000-2005)

Robyn Haynie

Lauren Horelick

Tara Hornung

Jessie Johnson (Head of Objects Conservation 1991-2000)

Hüsnü Kayisbudak

Steve Koob (Head of Objects Conservation, 1988-1990)

Yunhui Mao

Ariel O’Connor

Nathan Otterson

Susan Russick

Ellen Salzman Chase

Eva Shipp

Brenda Smith

Julie Unruh

Özge Üstün

Chris White