In this year's episode of the Myra and Andriake excavations, sculpture fragments unearthed during the excavations carried out in 2020-2021 are brought together. Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Nevzat Çevik said, "This work is like digging in an office. Thousands of pieces are completed like a big ancient puzzle."
In the Demre district of Antalya, Akdeniz University Faculty of Letters, Archeology Department Lecturer Prof. Dr. Under the direction of Nevzat Çevik, 70 'terracotta' (earth figurines) were unearthed during the excavations carried out in the ancient cities of Myra and Andriake, in the Roman Theater Orchestra between 2020-2021. The figurines found together in such a large number made a significant impact in the world of archeology. Thousands of figurine fragments, male and female heads, and 70 intact earthen figurines were found.
No Excavation in the Field This Year
In this year's part of the Myra and Andriake excavations, there is no excavation at the site. The excavation team cleaned the ancient figurine fragments and separated them according to their type. Each piece was put inside cotton to prevent them from breaking. Thousands of tiny pieces are put together with meticulous work in the excavation laboratory. By combining ancient elements, earthen figurines are unearthed. One hundred twenty-five heads in these particles indicate the vibrant figurine collection in the Roman Theater Orchestra. As a result of the combining works, new ancient figurines were unearthed.
Sema Talu, who has a doctorate in ancient sculpture fragments, said, "I think that when thousands of pieces unearthed in the orchestra of the theatre in the Myra and Andriake excavations are combined, we can reach substantial and important findings. Especially for terracotta sculpture studies, our examples are of great importance in various aspects."'
Like a Big Ancient Jigsaw'
Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Nevzat Çevik said, "This work is like excavating in the office. Thousands of pieces are completed like a big ancient puzzle. Parts are being searched for. Every day, another piece or sculpture finds another part of the body. "We are getting an inventory of works. Now that rich collection is getting richer. There will be quite a few pieces this year, but we have found new examples of types that did not exist before, and we have achieved even more diversity. The aim here is to reveal solid figurines from puzzle pieces," he said.
Stating that this year, they tried to reveal what the sculptures were by combining the pieces in the workshop, Prof. Dr. Çevik said, "There are things that do not have a body, that we do not know about, that we cannot complete or that we will never find because they are either destroyed or have tiny pieces. Since each head is considered a sculpture, this gives a trace of great wealth. Our work this year is to complete the heads in the warehouse, to find new sculptures, an effort to create those sculptures," he said. (Ahmet Acar- DHA)