Today was the last official day of excavation at the site that I’ve been working on for nearly five weeks now, Hacımusalar Höyük, near the town of Elmalı, in Antalya Province (southwest Turkey). Our site, a höyük, or mound, contains materials ranging from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period. I’ve been able to excavate not only in the central church of the Byzantine period, but also parts of the city wall, the latter of which was an attempt to understand the dating and development of the wall. Now begins a period of cleaning, drawing, and photographing the trenches, followed by the writing of final reports.

My trench at the beginning of the season, overlooking the beautiful Elmalı plain on the north rim.