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Amorium Excavations 1993: the Sixth Preliminary Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

C. S. Lightfoot, et al
C. S. Lightfoot, et al
Affiliation:
Bilkent University
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Extract

The death of Prof. R. Martin Harrrison in September 1992 only a fortnight after the completion of a successful fifth season at Amorium was a serious blow and a sad loss to the Amorium Project. Without his drive and enthusiasm it was difficult at times, especially during the winter of 1992/93, to see how the excavations could be continued. It is, therefore, a major achievement in itself that work resumed in the following summer, and that a report on the findings can be presented here.

The sixth season of excavations at Amorium lasted from 26th July until 3rd September during which time digging was carried out at four separate locations (Fig. 1). A further six days were spent conducting a regional survey on behalf of the Ministry of Culture as part of a larger scheme to collate and register sites and antiquities throughout the whole of Turkey. The team comprised Dr. C. S. Lightfoot (Director), Dr. E. A. Ivison (Sub-Director and Byzantinist), Dr. M. H. Ballance (Epigrapher), K. L. Barker (Conservator), L. S. Bown (Ceramicist), Dr. M. A. V. Gill (Glass Specialist), P. M. Cox, S. Farid, N. Mestci, I. Sjöström-Welsby and R. E. Turnbull (Archaeologists), S. F. Young (Student Assistant) and O. Kızılkılıç (Accountant). Four students from the Department of Archaeology and History of Art at Bilkent University also took part in the excavations: they were Mercan Araydin, Deniz Atilla Mustafa Eren and Tuğba Tanyeri. The government representative was Mrs. Jale Dedeoğlu from the İzmir Archaeological Museum.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 44 , December 1994, pp. 105 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1994

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References

1 For a summary account of the season's work and the background to the excavations, see Minerva Vol. 5, No. 1 (January/February 1994), pp. 14–16Google Scholar.

2 AM93-A3-90-SF2037 (05.08.93): Follis, Class 4, dated 931/44. 25–24 mm. 8·10 g. 180°. Grierson 824. (CSL).

3 (a) AM93-AB-310-SF2034. AE 3. 18–15·5 mm. 2·30 g. 0°. LRBC 2791/93. (b) AM93-AB-316-SF2035. AE follis, Class 3, overstruck and clipped. 25–17 mm. 4·20 g. 0°. Grierson 354. (CSL).

4 See AS XLI (1991): 219–20Google Scholar.

5 These are presently being analyzed at the Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology, Cornell University.

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7 Buckler, W. H., Calder, W. M. and Cox, C. W. M., “Asia Minor, 1924: Monuments from Iconium, Lycaonia and Isauria”. JRS XIV (1924): 24–84, esp. pp. 32–33, nos. 13–14 and pl. IV 13–14Google Scholar; Swoboda, H., Keil, J. and Knoll., F.. Denkmäler aus Lykaonien (Brünn 1935), p. 38, no. 89 (ox-heads)Google Scholar; p. 56, nos. 60–61 (complete human figures). I am grateful to Dr. Michael Ballance for this information.

8 See, for example, Foss, C., Ephesus after Antiquity: A late antique, Byzantine and Turkish City (Cambridge 1979), esp. pp. 52, 60, 65, 78–9, 80 and 86Google Scholar.

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13 Cormack, R., “The Temple as cathedral”. In Roueché, C. and Erim, K. T. (eds.), Aphrodisias Papers: recent work on architecture and sculpture (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series No. 1, Ann Arbor 1990), pp. 75–88Google Scholar, esp. 82–3, fig. 5a, 87 and fold-out pl. I.

14 Kautzsch, R., Kapitellstudien (Berlin-Leipzig 1936), pp. 176–78, Taf. 35.566a–eGoogle Scholar; Taf. 36.567a–e shows a selection of capitals from the basilica incorporating elements of those found at Amorium; see also Hörmann, H., Forschungen in Ephesos IV/3: Die Johanneskirche (Vienna 1951), Taf. XXVIII–XXXIIIGoogle Scholar. For the date, see Foss (op. cit. n. 8), p. 88.

15 See AS XXXVIII (1988); 182, no. 6, pl. XXIVbGoogle Scholar. Another almost identical capital to those at Afyon was noted by Deichmann in the Taş, Medrese at Akşehir, together with another larger but cruder example, which may be a local imitation. See Deichmann, F. W., Reise, Ergebnisse einer Kleinasiatischen. JDAI Arch. Anz. 53 (1938)Google Scholar: col. 210, Abb. 4 and 3 respectively. I am grateful to Dr. Michael Ballance for drawing these references to my attention.

16 Grabar, A., Sculptures Byzantines de Constantinople (IVe–Xe siècles) (Paris 1963), pp. 67–9, pls. XX–XXIGoogle Scholar; Fıratlı, N. et al. , La sculpture Byzantine figurée au Musée Archéologique d'Istanbul (Paris 1990), pp. 102–3, nos. 190–191, pl. 61Google Scholar; Harrison, R. M., Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul I (Princeton 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar: pls. 87–91 and 93–100.

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21 A good instance of this practice may be seen in the churches of Mistra (a city founded in 1249) in Laconia, Greece, where large numbers of the furnishings and fittings were looted from the derelict churches of Middle Byzantine Lacedaemonia (Sparta); see Chatzidakis, M., Mistras: the medieval city and castle (Athens 1981), p. 14Google Scholar.

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23 AM93-ST-8-SF2055 (18.08.93). AE. 22–20·5 mm. 8·20 g. 0°. BMC Phrygia 1, dated after 133 B.C.

24 AM93-ST-8-SF2041 (12.08.93). AE 4, Class 4, Leo I and Verina (457–74). 12–10·5 mm. 1·10 g. 180° LRBC 2272–5.

25 See AS XLII (1992): 220Google Scholar, fig. 6·28 and AS XLII (1992): 220Google Scholar, fig. 6·27 (Trench F).

26 The stelai belong to a large group, some 400 in all, uncovered during 1964. These are now distributed between the Istanbul, Ankara and Kütahya museums. See Tuğrul, L., “Votive steles found at Emirdağ”, İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri Yıllığı 13–14 (1966): 175–85Google Scholar, esp. 177 and 184.

27 MAMA VII. Monuments from Eastern Phrygia (Manchester 1956), 64 no. 281 and pl. 17Google Scholar.

28 MAMA X. Monuments from the Upper Tembris Valley, Cotiaeum, Cadi, Synaus, Ancyra and Tiberiopolis (London 1993), 97–8Google Scholar no. 307 (with discussion).