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Tim Lynette Wilkins

Tim Lynette Wilkins

traveled in 11 countries Read more
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    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey
      First human statue 9500 BC
      Vulture karahantepe 8000 BCWild boar gobekli tepe 8500 BCReproduction T-columns showing how big they were!Copper age bowlCopper age idolBronze age toy carIron age head of SargonRoman necropolisMosaic of achilles and thesis 1st c AD

      Sanliurfa museum

      September 11, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

      This morning we were supposed to take a trip to a town called Harran, but we opted out. The sites in the town were damaged in the earthquake and are either rebuild anew, or levelled and built over. Half of our group went anyway, but we had a pleasant morning in our room reading and doing crosswords, which seemed a nice relaxation after all our recent site visits. When they came back we all went out for lunch at local restaurant with some really good turkish food, followed by the city museum.

      This museum is only 9 years old, and is excellent, but absolutely HUGE. Amongst other things it contains the finds from the excavations at Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe so there was lots to see and really we could have stayed all day, but we needed to also visit the mosaic museum.

      The mosaic museum is based around the mosaics found from a roman Palace dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries A D, . The mosaics are still shown in place where they found. They are exquisite, and made from very small and fine tessera, and show animals, birds and scenes from mythology.

      Finally we went to see the cave where Abraham was supposed to have been born and the pool where he was thrown into the fire and saved by God by creating the pool of water.      Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey
      T-shaped columns
      Desert fox carvingScorpionPredator and a wild boarAtaturk damEuphrates riverChillies drying in the sun

      Sanliurfa

      September 10, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

      Two incredible neolithic sites today,

      We started off by going to Gobekli tepe, and on the way seeing the massive Ataturk dam on the river Euphrates . The archaeological site was excavated from 1995 until today and remains one of the earliest human constructions, dating from 9500 BC to around 8000 BC. It consists of a number of circular structures cut into the bedrock and containing rings of stone columns inscribed with animals, birds and human figures. The columns were T-shaped. This area is in the heart of the fertile crescent so central to development of early civilisation. The main site seems to have been used as a meeting or religious site, and some residential sites have been found around it, but it's not known if they represent a domestic settlement or just for guardians of the site. We should see many of the artifacts on our museum visit tomorrow. While we were there , there was a team from the Discovery Channel filming for a programme to be broadcast next year - we'll have to look out for it! Work continues!

      The second site at Karahan tepe was only discovered recently with excavations starting 5 years ago. It's a bit later than Gobekli tepe, from 8500 BC. It is more clearly a settlement site with domestic tools and artifacts - all stone, both these sites predate ceramics and metals. There are also many columns in the circular areas, some T-shaped, but also many phallus-shaped. We were able to meet and discuss with the site director some of his interpretations about the site which was really interesting. Looking down from the top of the tel, it was easy to see other rings and marks in the surrounding land so I think they will be working there for many years to come. We weren't allowed to take pictures of some of the site because it hasn't been published yet.      Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey

      Earthquake and wildlife

      September 10, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

      This whole area was one of the worst affect by the big earthquake of last year, along with northern Syria. Over 100,000 people were killed and millions left homeless. A lot of work has been done to start to recover but many people are still living in temporary portcabin-like homes. In the cities there are many city blocks where the ruins have been razed down but which are still heaps of rubble, and some high-rise buildings still have the top floors open and ruined. However there is lots of new construction going on. But the most noticeable fact is that many high rise buildings DID survive - those that complied with the regulations for earthquake proofing.

      As we drive through the countryside and hills we see bits of local wildlife. Yesterday we stopped by the side of the road to watch a family of gazelle - a adult male and female and a couple of kids. Today we saw some desert foxes. Very handsome!      Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey

      Adiyaman and Mount Nimrud

      September 9, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

      Another early start to get an internal turkish flight from Istanbul to Adiyaman, way down in the south east part of the country, then a long winding journey by bus over the mountains to Mount Nimrud, to see the colossal heads we put in the photo of this blog trip. We stopped on the way to see a really nice small roman bridge over the river, and climbed up the mountain (2,200 metres high). It was a tough, rough climb, the guide book say takes 20 to 30 mins, we did it in about an hour!

      The top of the mountain is a huge tumulus of King Antiochus, who surrounded it with huge statues of gods and himself, although over the years the statues have fallen and now only the heads stick up.      Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey

      Istanbul

      September 8, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      We were woken during the night by a massive thunderstorm with lighting so bright you could see it despite the heavy curtains and closed eyelids, and with a tremendous downpour of rain, and great claps of thunder that seemed to shake the whole city. So no surprise that we got wet in our travels around the city this morning.

      We started with a visit to the old city walls, built up from roman times to byzantine and ottoman times, followed by a wonderful church dating to the 13th century and completely covered by magnificent mosaics and frescoes. We've been there a couple of times before but that doesn't matter, it's still breathtaking.

      One of the most popular sites in the city is the huge cistern, where roman and byzantine aquaducts bring fresh water into the city and its stored in underground reservoirs. After lunch we spent a couple of hours in the archaeological museum, stopping, now in hot sunshine, to buy a bag of hot roasted chestnuts on our way back to the hotel.      Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerArchaeology in Eastern Turkey
      View from our room
      Spice marketInto the restaurant

      Arrival in Istanbul

      September 7, 2024 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Long day - taxi at 3 a.m., but trip itself was uneventful. We arrived at the brand new Istanbul Airport which is wonderful, quiet peaceful and efficient, we were out with our bags in no time at all. After checking in to the hotel we walked to the spice market which is just down the street in the centre of the city, and afterwards went for an early dinner at a restaurant we know next to the aghia Sofia mosque ( it used to a cathedral, then a museum and then a mosque) . The setting for the restaurant is wonderful - down inside a medieval water cistern and every time before we have loved it. Since then its been done up and seems now to cater to Japanese and Chinese tour groups. The food is still great but the prices are stunningly and eye-wateringly expensive. Ah well , , , times change! At least on our walk back we bought our first batch of baklava. Still good!Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerExtremadura

      Madrid

      May 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      We left Merida at midday to get the train to Madrid. But as with the journey coming out, the first half was a replacement bus. It was perfectly comfortable and connected easily with the train. Then a short walk to our hotel. The timings were such that there wasn't a train that would arrive for today's flight so we had to stay tonight around the train station and then get a taxi to the airport in the morning. Annoying, but manageable!Read more

    • Tim Lynette WilkinsTravelerExtremadura
      Aquaduct
      AquaductBasilicaBasilicaSecond aquaductCircusHippodromeFamily of storks

      Last day in Merida

      May 18, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Until today, the weather has been rather disappointing. A warm 20c to 24c but mostly cloudy with occasional flashes of sunshine. But today the sky was blue and the sun shone all day and we spent much of the afternoon on the roof terrace.
      But not before our last bits of sightseeing. A 20 min walk takes you to another Roman Bridge ( over a tributary of the Guadiana) from which you can see the remains of an enormous aqueduct that brought water to the city from 10km away. Whilst not as wonderfully preserved as the one in Segovia, it is still a very impressive sight - and nearly every tower had a storks nest on top.
      The last two sites on our list were a HUGE, over 400m long and over 100 m wide, circus used for chariot races, and the Basilica of Santa Eulalia - a martyr in Roman times and the patron saint of Merida. Dating from just 20 or 30 AD, the circus was Impressive from its size, certainly by far the biggest I've seen , it took me nearly an hour to walk around it. The basilica was small and unremarkable, with Roman remains in the under crypt, but with visigoth foundations dating to 5th c AD. They used a convenient roman temple as an portico.

      Tomorrow afternoon we return to Madrid ready for our flight home on Monday.      Read more

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