Good evening, Kossacks, and welcome to WYFP.
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
As some of you know, blue jersey dad and I have been on the road for most of the summer carrying out archaeological field and lab works in a variety of different places. We were in Hawai'i for about three and a half weeks in May and June carrying out fieldwork with the Native Hawaiian community. While we were there, we found out that we had received a grant to work on the animal bones from the Iron Age site of Kinik in Southern Cappadocia in Turkey. We were able to combine the Turkish field work with a couple of conferences and an ongoing project in Armenia. We were gone for just over 6 weeks, and here was our itinerary:
JFK to Dnepropetrovsk (via Frankfort and Vienna); Dnepropetrovsk to Istanbul; Istanbul to Tel Aviv and back; Istanbul to Kyseri (Turkey) and back; Istanbul to Yerevan, Armenia (via Kiev); Yerevan to Dnepropetrovsk (via Moscow); and Dnepropetrovsk to JFK (via Vienna). We made it back in one piece.
We had the a few mishaps along the way, but nothing too major. Atlasjet (now I understand why the price was so cheap) lost blue jersey dad's luggage for a week in Turkey. Kiev is the most boring airport in the world. It has 5 smoking rooms, 2 bars, and a single sandwich shop. You can buy all the cigarettes and vodka you want from the duty free shop. We were stuck there for about 7 hours on a lay-over. Someone needs to open a Starbucks there; he or she could make a fortune. Moscow airport, on the other hand, has TGIFriday's. As someone who grew up during the Cold War, I am often stunned by how much the world has changed in my lifetime.
Since I had no big FPs tonight, I thought that I would post a few pictures of our trip. Please follow me below the fold.
We started our trip at the nature preserve at Kamennaya Mogila in Ukraine. Our Ukrainian colleagues have been working there with the Swiss for the past three years. I gave a paper on animal domestication at the conference, and I had to opportunity to look at some of the animal bones that were recovered from the excavations. This is a geological feature at the nature preserve. It includes a number of caves and rockshelters that have painted images and signs:
This is a view of Montfort Castle, a Crusader-period castle in northern Israel:
Here is a sunset over the Mediterranean. The picture was taken from the archaeological site of Tel Dor in northern Israel.
We had a couple of days or R&R in Tel Aviv. This is a view along the beach looking toward Yafo (Jaffa).
This is a view of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity In Nazareth. We visited this as part of one of the field trip from the ASWA (Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas) conference.
This is a picture of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) taken on our final day in Israel:
This is a picture of dad and me in the lab at Kinik in Turkey. I am identifying the animal bones, and dad is recording them on the PC.
While we were in Turkey, we had a chance to visit Gordion, the most important Iron Age site in Turkey. Here is the entrance to the "Midas tomb". The tomb is a bit too old to be the actual tomb of the historical King Midas:
We had a chance to take a tour of the Lake Sevan region on our last day in Armenia. This is a view of the town of Dilijan, near the border with Georgia and Armenia:
Here is the 13th-century monastic complex at Goshavank in Armenia.
And this is the medieval monastic complex at Haghartsin. It is the one active monastery in Armenia.
This is the 9th-century monastery at Sevanavank. It was originally situated on an island in Lake Sevan, but, due to lower late levels, it now sits on a peninsula. You can see the remains of some on the monastic buildings to the left of the church.
So what's your FP tonight? Dad and I will be here to chat until the jet lag kicks in.