This past summer, Zachary Silvia served as the trench supervisor at the Tarsus – Gözlükule site under the direction of Aslı Özyar, Boğaziçi University. The archaeological excavation at Tarsus – Gözlükule, located in the Mersin province of Southern Turkey, is a mound site of the well-known ancient city of Tarsus located in the Cilician Plain. The site features material from the Neolithic to early Islamic periods without any major break in habitation.

The site was first excavated in the 1930’s and 1940’s by Bryn Mawr College under the direction of Hetty Goldman. The site is now excavated as a collaborative effort between Boğaziçi University and Bryn Mawr College under the direction of Bryn Mawr alum Aslı Özyar.

Each dig season students from Bryn Mawr, such as Zachary, are asked to join an international team of students and researchers for six weeks in the field to contribute to our ongoing understanding of this extremely significant ancient city. The 2014 excavation season specifically focused on Late Bronze Age, Early Roman, Late Roman, and Abbasid period material culture.

The excavation integrates members of the Tarsus community into the project, which according to Zachary, is of equal importance to the excavated material itself. He sees it not just as an effort to encourage a localized sense of cultural heritage and place, but also as an opportunity to bring students from entirely different cultural and social backgrounds together to build a sense of shared world heritage and camaraderie with individuals local to Tarsus.

For more information about the Tarsus site, visit: http://www.tarsus.boun.edu.tr