Road Trip to Hittite Sites

From left to right:
Cybele Tom (NYU Conservation Program, Sardis Conservation Intern)
Jessica Pace (NYU Conservation Program, Sardis Conservation Intern)
Alex Lim (Research Fellow, UPenn Architectural Conservation Laboratory)

Lucas Stephens (Doctoral Student, UPenn AAMW Program)

The "weekend" at Gordion, which is from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday, is a good time to venture beyond the dig house and explore other areas of Turkey. Last weekend, Cybele Tom and Jessica Pace, conservation interns at Sardis, an archaeological site in Southwest Turkey, joined Gordion team members on a visit to several Hittite sites located in Central Anatolia.

Yielding to a flock of geese on our way to Hattusa.

The trip began with a tour of the Gordion site, tomb, and museum, as well as Dua Tepe. After lunch at the Gordion dig house, we set out on a road trip to the city of Bogazkale, where we stayed at a charming hotel and enjoyed a lovely dinner in a restaurant with Ottoman style furnishings and a stone fireplace.


The Hittite sites and museums we visited include Hattusa, Yazilikaya, and Alacahoyuk. This group of students and recent graduates included three objects conservators, an architectural conservator, and an archaeologist, which made for very interesting, and interdisciplinary, conversation regarding the sites and museums.


Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Dua Tepe. A memorial dedicated to the Turkish War of Independence.

Reconstruction of mudbrick walls of Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire.

The amazing landscape that surrounds Hattusa.

The reliefs of Yazilikaya, a sacred site of the Hittites.

The gates of Alacahoyuk, a Hittite settlement.

Our adventure ended in Ankara, where the two groups separated and returned to their respective sites. We would like to thank our friends from Sardis for joining us on a wonderful trip!