News Article

Andrew Goldman, assistant professor of history at Gonzaga University, will deliver the first lecture of the 2005-06 Archaeology and Ancient History Lecture Series at 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17 in the Jundt Art Center Auditorium. The lectures is free and open to the public.

The lecture is titled, "Discovering a Roman Military Post: The 2004-05 Excavations in the Roman Town at Gordion (Turkey)." The Archaeology and Ancient History Lecture Series began in 2004, with a generous grant (and continuing funding) from the William S. Paley Foundation. The program is sponsored jointly by Gonzaga's classical civilizations program and the history department.

Between 1950 and 1973, excavations at the ancient city of Gordion in central Turkey uncovered portions of a small Roman-period town, a moderately prosperous community occupied between the early first and fifth centuries A.D. Little was known about this town, and unresolved questions concerning its physical plan, the precise span of its occupation, and its function(s) led to the initiation of new excavations in 2004 and 2005.

The new excavations, for which Goldman was a principal researcher, exposed numerous features of interest, including semi-subterranean pit houses, a fourth-century A.D. grave and complete skeleton, and several early imperial buildings (first- and second-century A.D.). The recovery in the latter buildings of Roman scale mail, ring mail and weapons indicates that the site likely functioned as a minor military post in the early imperial period. Gordion thus represents the first Roman military post to be excavated in Turkey and was likely a minor communication and road patrol post (statio) in the Roman highway network.

For more information, please contact Assistant Professor Goldman at (509) 323-6691 or via e-mail at goldman@gonzaga.edu.