Tuesday, 27 May 2014

New Page – Archaeological Survey 2004


Although certain areas of the village have been subject to a state protection order for some time there seems to have been no systematic or formal evaluation of the area until a survey was undertaken in 2004.

New page Archaeological Survey 2004  describes some of the areas and findings detailed in the survey report

Friday, 23 May 2014

52 Column Bases and the Stadium

Taken from 1837 Chart L1531 Sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)
Taken from 1837 Chart L1531 
Sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)

Charles T Newton, the archaeologist who discovered the remains of the mausoleum of Halicarnassus, visited Gümüşlük in 1857.  Using the 1844 British Admiralty Chart 1531 as a guide Newton located the 52 column bases shown on the chart and commented that the outline of the stadium was visible but “nearly obliterated”.

In 2009 and following Newton’s example we obtained a copy of 1844 chart from the British Library and discovered that that some of the column bases may still be in situ. For photographs and a little more detail see the new page 52 Column Bases and The Stadium

Sunday, 11 May 2014

TALES FROM THE BALCONY

Yilmos’s Birthday

       Over the years we have seen many waiters come and go at Hera restaurant. All have been memorable in many ways, but one stands out, Yilmos.
        If someone had a stills camera, he was anxious to be in the shot, if someone produced a video camera, it was as if someone had turned on the lights and shouted action. He was a natural performer with impromptu dialogue that could have been scripted by the wackiest writers.
         When you are a waiter in a sleepy fishing village in a small Turkish tourist resort, as Yilmos was. Talking to people who vary in nationality by the hour certainly increases your knowledge of other languages, but how do you use it? Well that’s where Yilmos was unique. To try and describe him a little more, let me take you back to the late 90’s when our stay at the Hera coincided with his Birthday.........

          Word had got around that it was Yilmos’s Birthday, no doubt fuelled by Yilmos. I met him on the way to my early morning swim.
           ‘Good morning Yilmos, happy birthday.
           ‘Why good morning good buddy, and remember günaydin is good morning in Turkish if you should want to speak as me fluent in other lingo. Don’t forget, have a slice of my cake tonight you and your good lady wife’
           ‘Sure Yilmos thank you’
           ‘No problem, and please, thank you in Turkish is teşekkür ederim, but please is lutven, not German but sounds same.
 My body is already hitting the water as he finishes. Being spoken to by Yilmos in his staccato style is like having words fired at you from a machine gun, and not always in the right order.
             My wife and I were the first to arrive in the restaurant on the evening.  A couple of drinks and a cigar for Yilmos.
            ‘How old is the Birthday boy then? My wife asks.
            ‘Is still nineteen my lovely Diane’
            ‘I bet we could double that’ we retort. Just then a family of four from the rear apartments arrive. A boy and a girl run round Yilmos saying in broken English happy birthday.  From Norway I thought.
            ‘Where are they from?’ my wife asks Yilmos.
            ‘Why Sweden’ he replied.  I am wrong.  The couple introduce themselves’
            ‘I am Theo from Norway and this is my wife Anna from Sweden.’ Half right Yilmos.
              Then what looks like a retired couple from the same apartments enter, he has a head of white hair and very striking white moustache . They sit at the table next to us and he introduces himself.
             ‘Good evening my name is Eric.’ It is the perceived voice of every retired English Colonel heard on stage and screen.
             ‘This is my wife Elaine, but they call us Eric and Ernie, she’s the one with the fat hairy legs’ he chortled.  I look down at her legs like a fool before returning the introduction.  Eric then moves to the Norway Sweden amalgamation and introduces himself as before.  As he gets to the fat hairy legs bit I notice Theo looks down.  Yilmos who has been taking all this information in, turns to Eric and asks.
              ‘What would Mr and Mrs Ernie like to drink?’ and I swear he looked at her legs.
              An American party arrives, three girls and a married couple. Across the restaurant  Sweden and Norway have made Yilmos a crown of flowers. My wife thinks he looks like the queen of the fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The family then sing to Yilmos Happy Birthday in their own Language. Yilmos is taken by surprise, but by swiftly looking at all of them in turn he manages to sing along using their words.
               The couple in the American party introduce themselves as Nancy and Matt. The rest of the evening, for some unknown reason Yilmos refers to them as Mercy and Max.

                  If you would like to see some snippets of the evening on film, please go to the following:

Yilmos was also always keen to send a message to anyone he knew who hadn’t turned up that particular summer. Two of these messages can also be savoured by going to the following:

Monday, 5 May 2014

The Western Harbour

Professor Şahin of Uludağ University has recently uploaded an article onto Acedemia.edu titled “A New Discovery In The Myndos Harbour Survey: The West Harbour”


In the article, originally published in the TINA Maritime Archaeology Periodical, Prof Şahin proposes that the Western Harbour may have been a later addition to the original city. The piece includes some interesting underwater photographs by Dr Oktay Dumankaya of deposits of pottery on the breakwater which are suggestive of two shipwrecks.

Saturday, 29 March 2014

Proposed Theatre Location



In 2011, following a joint project with the University of Hamburg, Uludağ University Archaeology Department announced that they had identified the possible site of the theatre.




Sunday, 23 March 2014

New page added The "Lelegian" Wall 

Apart from the obvious misnomer, as most academics seem to agree that it isn’t a Lelegian structure,  there seems to be no obvious purpose for wall which runs down the spine of the headland, Kocadağ. However we came across a paper presented at a seminar held at the Free University of Berlin in 2005 where Professor Mustafa Şahin of Uludağ University proposed that the wall may pre date Mausolus’ Myndos by several hundred years. 

Thursday, 20 March 2014

TALES FROM THE BALCONY

One enchanted evening

      It started out as the type of evening Gümüşlük delivers on a regular basis. Hardly a breeze was blowing from the sea, which was bathed in moonlight. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft lap of the waves landing on the beach just a few steps from Hera restaurant, soft music wafting from the jazz cafe down the beach, and the murmur of people talking while enjoying their meals and drinks. After visiting for nearly 20 years we try very hard not to take these evenings for granted.

      Hera regularly set tables on the beach next to the sea, which makes for a more secluded meal and for some people it’s very romantic.
      We had just finished our meals in Hera when Güven the waiter came past carrying a menu for a couple who had been seated at a table by the sea.
      ‘I am bringing romantic news with a meal tonight’ said Güven
       ‘What’s the news?’ we asked.
      ‘It is a secret, please do not tell’ Güven said. ‘After their meal he will ask her to marry him, I shall take him their drinks with a box that contains a ring’
       Discretely, my wife and I, along with Dave who had joined us sat waiting for the romantic news.
       The couples meal was coming to its romantic conclusion, dishes had been taken away and Güven passed us carrying a tray of drinks and a small box. The box was opened and, as the question was being asked, Güven pointed overhead, we all looked up into the night sky.
        A fireball of immense size had suddenly appeared, streaming behind it a fan like tail. It made its way across the sky toward the horizon before disappearing as if into the sea. Those who saw it that night had never seen anything so huge and so clear. Some of us wondered if it was a disaster involving an aeroplane.

        During that night, and the next day we enquired if anyone else other than those at Hera had seen it, no one had. We looked into all the local and national media, nothing. To this day we have never been able to find out what it was we had seen that night. All we know is that some couple had the most marvellous romantic evening, and I would guess, that no woman since has had such a cosmic display of light appearing in the night sky as she was being proposed to.

Gulsum Ken