Following the old roads near Sidyma

After a very wet weekend cycling along the stormy coast to Antalya, I joined the Culture Routes Society team to volunteer and help out with some exciting fieldwork in the Muğla region. As the weather cleared, Onat and I drove from the office in Antalya to the first site near the village of Dodurga. After reports that a bulldozer had unearthed some ruins near a proposed marble mine, our aim was to check these out, then look for more ancient ruins and Roman roads in the area. As we drove through the village of Dodurga we met a friendly shepherd who kindly came with us to show us the location of the ruins and lead us to the start of some Roman roads to explore the following day.

That night we stayed in a small Pansiyon in the village of Gey on the Lycian way trail. It is a beautiful place overlooking the Mediterranean sea and the host family, who are friends of the Culture Routes society, really made us feel at home and cooked a delicious meal including some of the first wild mushrooms from the season. The following morning we were up before sunrise and enjoyed a typical Turkish breakfast by the warmth of the wood burning stove.

We drove to the start of the Roman road that the shepherd had shown us the previous day and set off by foot to see what we would find. To our delight the old road was in very good condition and we could see that it was regularly used by the locals. As we came round a bend we met another shepherd coming up the road towards us. He was very happy to share some more information with us about the old roads; it’s great that the locals are so welcoming and want to help in whatever way they can.
As the terrain got steeper the old road made many tight zigzag turns down to reach the flatter ground below. We could see a lot of effort had gone into the building of these zigzags on the steep terrain, with beautiful rock work built up to a few meters high in places to keep the road level. The effort and building skills of the Lycians and Romans means that these roads have lasted the test of time and we are still able to enjoy them these many years later.

After climbing back up to the top where we parked out car, we had a picnic lunch between the ancient terraced olive orchards, before we started for hunt for more ruins close by the marble mine site. We headed up the hill behind the site and split up to scan as much ground as possible. We scrambled around the rocky hillside and through the thick undergrowth, without success. However, Onat did come across another shepherd out with his goats, who told him if we could find two wells in the valley on the other side of the hill, we might find something of interest behind them. After not too long we found the first well and then the second and eagerly searched the hill behind them. We went up and up without finding anything but it was only on our way down that Onat spotted some large rectangular stones embedded in the terraced field walls. When we investigated, we discovered what appeared to be the entrance of a tomb made from massive cut stones; there were some other stone structures near by in the same style.

We were pretty happy to finally find what we were looking for but then, on our way back to the car, our day got even better. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something that looked a bit out of place and exclaimed ‘whats that?’ We had found a wall of an anient Byzantine church, still standing and in reasonable shape. This beautiful discovery was the icing on the cake for our adventure-filled day, and the Culture Routes Society now has enough information to get these sites protected from any future quarrying that could cause damage to these historical buildings and old road.
I am from New Zealand where we don’t have the depth of history that can be found in this side of the world, so it was really interesting to be involved in the small project and see a little bit of what the Soceity does. I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to volunteer here, with such passionate and knowledgeable people and hope I will be backinn the spring to help with more fieldwork.

Peter

December 2020