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Yassihoyuk
(Gordion)-capital of Phrygia. Those with an interest in the history of
the region will find a visit to Yassihoyuk (Gordion) (105 km), past Polatli
on the Eskisehir highway, and Gavurkalesi (60 km/, on the Haymana Highway
near to Derekoy, interesting and easily made. Gordion, a Phrygian capital,
site of the Gordion Knot (the key to Asia), is today of interest for the
tumulus of King Midas, of the Golden Touch and the asses ears. The remains
of the old city, still being excavated can be seen; and there is a small,
pleasant museum. At Gavurkalesi, there can be seen the remains
of an open-air Hittite temple, a tomb, and two reliefs of Hittite gods.
The 1993 season at Gordion--the site of the
former capital of the Phrygian empire and the home of the legendary King
Midas of the "golden touch"--involved many activities,
including excavation; conservation, restoration, and site presentation
on the City Mound; architectural and conservational study of the wooden
tomb under the Midas Mound; geomorphological survey; geological
and botanical survey; research on previously excavated materials; object
conservation at Gordion; and conservation and study of wooden objects
in Ankara.
Midas Mound at Gordion
Site
Of four areas of the site investigated through
excavation, the most important immediate discoveries were found in the
courtyard of the Early Phrygian Citadel, at the eastern part of the City
Mound. Here a second part of a structure first exposed in 1989 excavations
and nicknamed the PAP ("Poros and Post") structure, and an adjacent
courtyard, were excavated. The PAP structure was built near or perhaps
up against the earliest Phrygian fortification wall excavated by Rodney
Young in the 1960s. Although the date of the structure, which appears
to have had a relatively elaborate superstructure, and its demolition
remain uncertain, it precedes the eighth century citadel, and its construction
may have extended into the ninth century B.C.
Dr. Richard Liebhart continued his documentation
and architectural study of the great wooden tomb. With the aid of a generous
grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, a conference on the preservation
of the tomb and wooden furniture from Gordion was organized by Dr. Elizabeth
Simpson and Dr. Liebhart, and held in Ankara and at Gordion.
The major conservation project undertaken
in 1993, supervised by William C.S. Remsen, AIA, Director of Architectural
Conservation for Gordion, was the partial rebuilding and mortar capping
of two adjacent walls belonging to an early Phrygian terrace building.
The project was a pilot program to determine the techniques, materials
and systems that should be used in future conservation at the site. Mr.
Remsen and his firm, RAD Associates of Boston, donated his time to the
project.
The summer of 1993 also saw the beginning
of a Turkish fundraising program initiated by the Museum to insure the
long-term support of the important work at Gordion and the preservation
of the site as a national treasure of Turkey. A Gordion Foundation was
formed in Turkey that not only facilitates the ability of Turkish citizens
and corporations to make gifts to the project, but actively solicits financial
support and otherwise promotes Gordion.
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