In the end of September and the first weeks of this October, Dr Alexandra Livarda, Dr Jessica Feito and Ms Marina Daniel, members of the ICAC archaeobotany team, visited the archaeological site of Pergamon, located in the modern town of Bergama, Turkey. Their visit marked the beginning of a new collaboration between the GIAP/ICAC archaeobotany team the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Istanbul, directed by Prof. Dr Felix Pirson, and the archaeological project at Pergamon (https://www.dainst.blog/transpergmikro/about-the-project/).
Pergamon preserves the remains of the Hellenistic city founded in the 3rd century BC, which became the capital of the Attalid kingdom and one of the region’s main cultural and political centres. Subsequently, during the Roman period, the city further flourished, and its pre-existing structures were maintained, expanded and complemented with new constructions, which are still visible today. The acropolis overlooks a landscape that features funerary tumuli and traces of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, both in its immediate surroundings and in the lower part of the present-day city of Bergama.
Our archaeobotany team was warmly received by the directors and the rest of the team at Pergamon and quickly began working on flotation and laboratory analysis of ancient plant remains from across various excavated contexts of the site. Mr Islam Turan joined the team, participating in the archaeobotanical work and significantly contributing to sample processing. Prof. Dr. Felix Pirson, Doç. Dr. Güler Ateş and PD Dr. Ulrich Mania provided excellent hospitality and important information on the site and project, facilitating our work in every possible way. Prof. Dr. Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen, the anthropologist of the site, Yula Deniz Perksoy Kır, Jacob Krasel, Fabian Becker, Seçil Tezer Altay, Eylül Yildiz, Gizem Efe Turgut and the rest of the team assisted in providing us with information, equipment, stimulating discussions and excellent company during our two-week stay.
We thank the Pergamon team and look forward to joining again next year to work on unlocking the complex human-plant relations at this amazing site!
