For well over a century, the Penn Museum has sponsored archaeological excavations throughout the world, from Mesopotamia to Thailand to Guatemala. One of the most noteworthy, continuing projects has been the exploration of ancient Gordion in central Turkey. This special issue of Expedition focuses on Gordion: past, present, and future.
Our first article, “Gordion in History,” outlines the significance of the site from the Bronze Age onward. Gordion reached its zenith during the Iron Age, when it served as the capital of the powerful Phrygian state. Our next article, “Building Digital Gordion,” is a discussion of the difficult but crucial job of digitizing six decades of archaeological data. Digital Gordion may serve as a model for other longterm excavations, as it provides researchers around the world with access to digital versions of paper and film archives. Problems encountered in retrieving two Roman altars, chance finds from the 2008 season at Gordion, are described in our third article, “To the Victory of Caracalla.” The story of the altars’ discovery, disappearance, and rediscovery is an absorbing introduction to the valuable information revealed in the altars’ decoration and inscriptions. Our last feature—a special photographic essay on the Gordion watercolors created by Piet de Jong—is presented in advance of an exhibition that opens at the Penn Museum in September. De Jong’s watercolors of objects and wall paintings were created in 1957 at the request of Rodney Young, Excavation Director at Gordion and Curator of the Museum’s Mediterranean Section.
Also included in this issue are several short articles, including a profile of Lauren Ristvet, the new Assistant Curator in the Near East Section, a description of the Museum’s wonderful film collection, and a review of an important and relevant book by James Cuno. Ellen Kohler, well known within the Museum and the archaeological community for her stewardship of the Gordion Archives, passed away in late 2008. She is remembered here by her friend and colleague, Gareth Darbyshire.
You have probably noticed by the photo that a new editor is in place at Expedition. I am honored to take over during the magazine’s fifty-first year of publication. The former editor, Jim Mathieu, who also worked on this issue, continues as Chief of Staff to the Williams Director. In some respects, I am returning to my roots, as my first job was in printing and publishing. After a twenty-year career in business, I went back to graduate school to pursue a lifelong interest in archaeology. In 2008, I received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Penn. My interests are wide-ranging, including material culture studies and the excavation and analysis of human skeletal remains. My current research involves ancient jewelry from the Eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on gold and silver jewelry from Minoan Crete. I look forward to combining teaching at Penn with the search for interesting and informative articles for Expedition. I hope you enjoy this issue.
Jane Hickman, Ph.D.
Editor