Sabbatical at Bilkent University

(March-June 2001)

I am a professor of Biology at a small undergraduate college in the southern United States.Since 1998, I have been fortunate to work on the Hacimusalar excavation with undergraduate students and faculty from both Bilkent University and some American Colleges. While my role at the excavation has been primarily that of a zooarchaeologist, identifying and analyzing animal remains from the site, I have had the opportunity to do some fieldwork excavating skeletal remains from the cemetery associated with a late Byzantine Church.

Last spring, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Özgen and other members of the faculty at Bilkent University, I was able to spend mid-March until late June 2001 at Bilkent University cleaning, preserving, and beginning the analysis of the skeletal remains.While there, I stayed in a lojman, interacting with faculty and students from a variety of countries.I can honestly say that the months spent in Turkey were mostproductive, both profess-sionally and socially. I had the opportunity to rekindle my love of bridge by playing each week with faculty from England, Bulgaria, and the United States, including one member of your depart-mental faculty. I also had the pleasure of going to the faculty club for meals, attending presentations by visiting professionals, attending productions at the music hall, and visiting nearby sites of archaeo-logical interest. I also must not forget the CHEESE-CAKE, and the other excellent food served in the various eating places on the campus and in Ankara.The choice of foods on the Bilkent campus is far better than that at my campus.

But in addition to enjoying the social life on the campus, I was also able to get some professional work done and since my return to the United States, I have been analyzing the data gathered while at Bilkent.

These data included deter-mining the age, gender and height of the human skeletons.Evidence of bone fractures, disease, and birth defects were present on some of the remains. Most striking, however, was the condition of the teeth. Cavities, pre-mortem tooth loss, and peridontal disease was evident on almost every skeleton examined, even those of very young children.There were a couple of skeletons of people in their forties who had lost all of their teeth prior to death and one elderly gentleman who had only one tooth remaining.  Many were the days when your department chair and  I commiserated with the pain and discomfort these people must have experienced. 

Toward the end of my stay, I was able to share some of the information with the faculty and students of your department by doing an interactive workshop.Archaeological specimens and equipment to measure the stature of the individuals were made available and faculty and students were able to determine age, height, and gender of the remains.  Students were able to see evidence of fractures, rickets, and the terrible condition of the teeth. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to display some of the material and the participants seemed to enjoy the opportunity to handle and learn something about what can be done with archaeological human remains. The chance to see human bones was not limited to the workshop.  It was not uncommon for faculty and students (including some from other departments) to come into the lab and observe the process of preserving and cataloging of skeletons and to see the display of human skulls sitting on the shelf.