Student in UTARP

I am an archaeology student at Bilkent University. Last summer I participated in an excavation project that has no connection with my own university. It is the so-called Upper Tigris Archaeological Research Project (UTARP). The excavation director is Bradley Parker; he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Utah.

It was my first year on an excavation. The reason why I have chosen this project is that I am mostly interested in the Mesopotamian culture. There are three sites in this area: Talvas Tepe, Boztepe and Kenan Tepe. Kenan Tepe is the site where we are working right now. Generally speaking, UTARP is a multi-period archaeological excavation and survey project aimed at defining archaeological relationships and cultural influences in an area that was, for much of Mesopotamian history, a frontier zone between the centralized states of Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

Our dig house is located in Bismil, half an hour from the tepe that we are excavating. A day in Bismil starts at 4 o’clock in the morning, and continues at Kenan Tepe till 12.30 and even sometimes till 13.30. We have got a day off. On that day we arrange some small trips into Diyarbakır. As I have mentioned above, it was my first season on an excavation, but I have also to mention that it was quite enjoyable dealing with lots of new stuff and knowledge. I have got a trench that is located on the slope of the tepe. I had no experince at all and I did not know what to do at the beginning, but my project director, Bradley Parker and art history Masters student, Elenora Moosmen, helped me a lot when I started.

The most beautiful thing at this excavation is that we are keeping everything in databases. We always have lots of work to do, but we still have time left to have fun.

Sibel Torpil

Newsletter No. 1 - 2002, Pg. 12

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