Archaeology Magazine - April 1975 - 59

his
Aman
building
ownhousein the
of Sart
village
Mustafa
provided
with
archaeologists
valuable
ethnographic
on
information
contemporary
village
architecture.

Aportionof the
areaof a
exposed
mosaic
floorfound
near
thevillageof
Allahdien.

to a late period of reconstruction. No
traceof wallsconnectingthe other piers
wasfound. Yegiil,who studiedthe design
of the entire complex, concluded that
the row of shops along the south side of
the gymnasiumand the synagoguewere
builtin the second-thirdcentury
originally
afterChrist.The colonnade,nowpartially
reconstructedin front of the shops, replaced an earlier, higher one which
measuredabout 5.61 meters in height.
Yegiilrestored the colonnadeon the east
roadas havingcolumnsabout 6.40meters
high;he believesthat a tetrapylonat the
south-eastcorner of the building connectedthe two arcades.
On the road running from Sardis to
BozDag located about eight kilometers
to the southeast,three large columnsare
visibleat the site of Eski Mektep Yeri
near the village of Allahdien. Teoman
Yalçinkayaand Atilla Tulga of the Archaeological Museum in Manisa discovereda mosaic floor with tesserae of
unusuallybright and varied colors.The
smallexposed area revealed representationsof a bird and a vine, each within
a geometricpattern. A few meters from
the mosaicwas a white marble base with
an inscription celebrating the wrestling
victoryof an athlete from Hypaipa in
gameswhich had been held at Sardis.
The inscriptionwas dated prior to a.d.
220.

dedicated
toHadrian.
Romanaltar,probably
Of the chance finds brought to the expedition,the mostimportantwasa round
altar dedicated to a Roman emperor.
It is decorated with carefully carved
reliefsof an eagle with thunderboltsand
two filleted bucrania supporting a garland. Three paterae lie above the loops.
Although the name in the inscribed
dedicationof the emperor is incomplete,
the name may be restored as Hadrian's;
he did visitSardisin a.d. 123/4.

The study of objectscontinued.Jane
C. Waldbaumof the Univesityof Wisconsin, Milwaukeeworked on the metal
productionfrom the EarlyBronzeAge to
the Islamicperiod. Both neutron activation and spectrographic analyses of
bronzesare planned,the formerto fingerprint the trace elements and attempt to
identify the origin of the ore, the latter
to determinegrosschemicalconstituents.
An analysisof slag willbe attempted to
determinethe metallurgicalprocessesused
during the Lydianperiod.
Andrew Oliver, Jr. of the Brooklyn
Museumcarried out an important study
of the Hellenistic pottery, other than
relief ware. The Hellenization of Lydia
after the conquestby Alexanderin 334
b.c. and an earthquakein a.d. 17 establishedlimitsto the period. Oliverterminated the period for EarlyHellenisticwith
the siege of Antiochus III in 215-213
b.c., whenthe evolutionof Lydianshapes
and stylesended. He placed the Middle
Hellenisticat about 180-150b.c., with the
introductionof the white-groundlagynos
styleand the imminentappearanceof red
ware, and he delineated the Late Hellinistic wares. He related this sequence
to those at other sites in AsiaMinor and
distinguishedthe stylesderivedfromAttic
imports and traditionsfrom those which
developedout of Lydianprecedents.
In addition, Ramage continued the
study of Lydian architecturalterracotta
decorationand concludedthat most examples found at Sardis were of local
manufacture,even though manyshowed
strong Ionian influence. Jane Scott of
the Fogg Art Museum,Harvard University studied glazed Byzantine pottery.
Comparisonwith finds at Ephesus,Pergamon and Constantinoplesuggeststhat
the Asia Minor sites produced wares
closelyrelated to each other and quite
distinct from those made at Constantinople.A programof spectrographicand
pétrographie analysisof the ceramicsis
being implemented.
Pursuingthe observationand recording
of ethnographic phenomena, Yegiil
studiedthe methodsusedbya villagerwho
was building a stone and mud mortar
house.Through severalinterviews,Yegiil
recorded the meansby whichthe villager
learnedhisskills,the sourceof hisplanand
the reasons for the orientation of the
house. In 1973pottery productionat the
villageof Dat Bey,35 kilometerssouth of
Sardis, had been photographed and
studied. A complementarystudy of potteryjust south of U§akwasundertakenin
1974.
Further excavationand studyisplanned
for 1975.
131

Archaeology Magazine - April 1975

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