TURKISH DELIGHTS

Today, I went to an archaeological site called Boncuklu Tarla. At ~12,000-13,000 years old, it’s the most ancient known site of civilization so far anywhere

When I arrived, the very small team of archaeologists were surprised to see an American because they almost never have visitors from anywhere, especially the US (I haven’t seen another American since leaving Istanbul, or even a Western European except for the wife of the director of the dig). Anyway, using French as the common language, I found I was talking with the project manager, Ergul Kodas. He showed me around and explained things in the 100°+ heat. Then he invited me back to talk at his ‘temporary’ home and meet his French wife, Charolotte, also an archaeologist. One of the most surprising things to me was the lack of funding of this dig. If I understood correctly, they get about $2000 total funding per year! As I offered, that probably doesn’t even buy the detonator for one good bomb…

Anyway, we had a good visit and talked about a whole range of things related to human history. They were genuinely happy for my interest and for showing up in the middle of nowhere unexpectedly to see what they are so passionate about.

From there, I continued on to the ancient hill city of Mardin. It’s a very cool place. Judging by the many busy gold shops, the gold market is alive and well here. I’d suggest that any guy who wants to really impress his woman should make a trip here to buy something special for her

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE…WOW !

Along with the jewelry, I was also curious about all the wine shops, so I picked one to go into. The women running the shop were fun. Between us we had enough overlap of English and Spanish that we were able to have a funny conversation. One of the things I asked about was the Christian stuff in the shop. They were Christian! They said most of the wine shop owners were Christian, but some were Muslim. They said it doesn’t matter, everyone gets along fine.

Tomorrow, I’m on to two other important digs at Karahan Tepe and then Göbekli Tepe, which had been considered the oldest known civilization until the discoveries at Boncuklu Tarla.

Happy trails!

Bill