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Amorium Excavations 1990: The Third Preliminary Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

This was the third season of excavation at Amorium in east Phrygia, and the team worked for four weeks, from 1 August 1990. The archaeological aim was to study social change and development from the Hellenistic period to the Medieval, in particular the Late Roman period and so-called Dark Ages. We completed a detailed survey in the Upper Town, worked in three trenches (two of them initiated last year [L and AB] in the Upper and Lower Town, and one which was new [the Church] in the Lower Town), and further study was made of pottery and small finds. This is a new archaeological subject in this period in central Anatolia, and the first stage is to sort out the pottery, small finds, two or three buildings, levels, and chronology. The next stage will be to study the faunal, botanical, and other samples.

In the Roman period the town lay at the eastern end of the province of Asia. It was probably fairly small, consisting of the Upper Town and part of the Lower (the area of the modern village). Nonetheless, Amorium was mentioned in classical texts and has produced Hellenistic and provincial-Roman coins, Phrygian marble sculpture and architecture, inscriptions, non-local pottery, and a Roman carnelian intaglio.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1991

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References

1 Harrison, R. M., “Amorium 1987, A Preliminary Survey”, AS XXXVIII (1988), 175–84Google Scholar; Amorium 1988”, AS XXXIX (1989), 167–74Google Scholar; Amorium 1989”, AS XL (1990), 205–18Google Scholar.

2 Cf., the general plan in AS 40 (1990), 207Google Scholar.

3 The staff included Professor R. M. Harrison (director), Dr. D. Welsby (sub-director and excavator), Miss A. Claridge, Dr. N. Christie, Dr. H. Dodge, Miss I. Sjöström (excavators), Mr. M. Jecock, Mr. S. Ainsworth (members of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for England), Mr. S. Aydal (the official representative), Mr. G. Lawson (architect), Dr. M. A. V. Gill (small finds and conservation), Mrs. L. Bown, Mrs. L. Özerden (pottery), Mrs. E. A. Harrison (food, accommodation, and photography), Mr. O. Kızılkılıc (assistant including tax), Mr. V. Güç (assistant), and Mr. D. Bown (assistant). We are also grateful to Mr. J. Crow and Dr. C. Lightfoot, for their helpful ideas. We had 30 workmen and four local female assistants (one cook and three pot-washers). Funds were kindly given by The British Academy, The Craven Committee, The Society of Antiquaries, The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Koç Holding A.Ş., Lincoln College, All Souls College, The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, three private supporters, The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, and The Denis Buxton Trust. We were very grateful to Mr. A. Işık and the staff at the Department at Ankara and to Mr. A. Topbaş at the Museum of Afyon for assistance in various ways. Our thanks also to Mrs. A. Wilkins of the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, for finalizing the drawings.

4 See earlier interims listed in note 1 above.

5 See review by Jones, R., Antiquity 65 (1991), 175–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.