Contents

AIMS

The aims of the 1997 season at Kerkenes were:

1. To complete the cadastral survey of the ancient city, probably to be identified with the Median city of Pteria (Summers, 1997) (Figs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9).

2. To complete plans and written description of the city defences (Figs 1, 10, 11 and 12).

3. To complete plans and written descriptions of the zone of “public monuments” at the southern end of the city (Figs 13, 14a and 14b).

4. To complete conservation, drawing and photography of finds from the 1996 test trenches and from earlier seasons of survey (Figs 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19).

5. To carry out limited geophysical survey as an aid to software development and to answer questions relating to function and architecture of specific complexes (Figs 13, 20a, 20b and 21).

6. To experiment with kite photography in order to obtain additional low level photographs for the rectified mosaic (Fig. 1).

7. To continue geological and geomorphological study.

8. Collection and study of Hellenistic to Byzantine pottery from the surface of the Kale and Kiremitlik.

9. To make substantial progress towards the preparation of a monograph and a number of specialised academic papers.

All the aims were totally or very largely achieved, despite an ambitious programme of research. The season was only marred by a bad accident with the BJAA Landrover that forced two of the team members to leave early for medical treatment. Although the vehicle was written off, injuries were comparatively minor and everyone involved has made a complete recovery. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the BJAA, its Ankara staff, and particularly its Director, Dr. Roger Matthews, for considerable help and great understanding concerning the accident, especially during the crucial few days when the extent and seriousness of the injuries sustained was awaiting expert medical diagnosis, first in Ankara and subsequently in the USA and Switzerland.

Contents