I received a good suggestion from Mona Malik at the Assyrian Aid Society that I add an option to the blog for those of you who might want to get additional email updates, including some supplemental photos and text, on the Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Expedition, especially after the season ends. Thanks for the idea, Mona!
If you would like to receive periodic email updates on the project, or want to sign up some family, friends or colleagues who might be interested, please let me know via email. My address is matney@uakron.edu. Please put “ZT Email Updates” in the subject line.
2 replies on “Passing on the word.”
Hello Tim, John, Paola, and all,
James and I had some visne suyu from the local shop for lunch in honor of your excellent blog. Visuals and text terrific; we look forward to more, and yes, we would gladly be in the Diyarbakir summer with you. Think of us some morning over second breakfast with the shimmering heat waves in background and eggs, bread, cheese and olives in foreground!
Cheers,
Monica, James & Aidan
Hi Monica, James and Aidan! We will certainly raise a hot cup of tea to all of you. In fact, Monica, we are in the process of preparing the Operation J pottery and other materials you excavated for final publication. Our Medieval ceramics team is working through all of the depot material this season and we have already pulled the primary floor contexts from Operation J. The latest of your three occupational levels, J1, which we had initially thought might be very late, we now see is consistent with our 12-15th century AD materials from the high mound. The earlier level, J3, is Assyian. The middle level, J2, however, is still giving us problems. The pottery is dissimilar to either the J3 Assyrian level or the J1 Late Medieval level. We had initially proposed an Early Medieval date, 6th-8th centuries AD, but I am not entirely convinced. The re-used Roman rooftiles suggest a possible post-Roman date, but some of the glass looks early and I can’t imagine that so much fragmentary glass was brought from elsewhere. We are now looking through the secondary contexts for clues. Your excellent fieldnotes are front and center of discussion this year! We wish all of you were here as well.