KAZı SONUÇLARI - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

le to see how the Sanctuary was laid out in a series of descending terraces: the backrooms overlooked the front, which through its colums overlooked the courtyard; this inturn overlooked the street and the sea beyond.Newton sought and failed to find the western continuation of the courtyard wall.At its western Iimit it must once have returned to retain steps leading up from the streetto the entrance. Unfortunately, Iike Newton we found the wall to run out, and in itsplace was a fill of earth and stones. Some of this was modern and attributable to theearlier excavation. Below, however, the stones seem especia 11y closely packed andmay perhaps be part of a Byzantine filling in of the stair well, when the entrance waschanged. In spite of these complications, the stair survives in a series of steps cut intothe bedrock, and it is hoped next year to make better sense of this ancient approachto the Sanctuary and of its later history.The third aspect of the courtyard excavation involved cutting a broad, north-southseetion through the site from the courtyard wall to the modern cross wall on its ancientfoundation. Removal of the modem soil soon revealed bedrock and, sloping downto the street level, a trench cut into the rock for setting the bottom course of the courtyardwall. The natural rock served as the foundation of the courtyard floor and Newtonmust have exposed it in places. He writes of a well in which he found sculpture. Thiswell was relocated and found to be largely unexcavated. Osman, one of the Turkishstudent helpers, enthusiastically dug it to a depth of twelve feet before a halt was called.Next year, with protective helmet and ropes, we hope to clear it completely. Aroundthe well were other features cut into the bedrock, which were also not excavatedby Newton. These are not yet fully exposed, nor excavated but seem to form a meanderingchannel running east west across the courtyard. A terracotta pipeline fed intothis channel from the northwest. Between the channel and the well a shallow grooveprovided an overflow into the welL. In the Byzantine period the well remained in use andthe rim was repaired with white plaster .This plaster runs over the backfill of the channel,which must have been closed at this time. Over this backfill was laid a line of terracottatiles, seemingiy as an informal path to the welL.The primary objective of the Cnidus project remains a re-examination of the'Sanctuary of the Muses' with a view to fınding a context for the finds from Newton'sexcavation, now in the British Museum. The discovery of so many unexpected andunexcavated features is, however, a bonus and provides increasing interest. In the lightof this season's results, i am now tentatively revising the date of the foundation of theSanctuary upwards into the late-fourth or early third century. This date is based oncomparison of the masonry with other buildings in Cnidus and the fact that the earliestunstratified pottery sherds indicate a Iate Classical or early Hellenistic presence. Besidesthe pottery, other finds, often unstratified, include abone comb, a bronze buckle,abone counter, a glass game piece, three letters of an inscription, a lead fishing weight,a stone commercial weight and numerous loom weights.In addition to this work in the Sanctuary of the Muses, survey continued in theSanctuary of Demeter, and we are now close to producing a definitive plan. Further, inpartnership with our Turkish colleagues restoration began in an area to the west of theharbour stoa, incorporating part of the main north-south, stepped street. This work wasfacilitated by the British Museum's purchase of a hydraulic crane, the arrival of whichcaused great excitement.Beside myself, the team this year consisted of my colleague Dr. Peter Higgs, ourdraughtsman Ayşe Dalyancı and surveyor Sabri Aydal. A cheerful and hard-workinggroup of students from Selçuk University, Konya served as diggers. i must thank ProfessorDr. Ramazan Ozgan of Konya University, his wife Christine and other colleaguesfor hosting our visit during their own busy operations. i thank the Turkish Ministry ofCulture for granting a permit. i also thank the BIAA, British Museum Caryatids, BM ExcavationFund, BM Friends and the Townley Group for generously funding the project.364