Thanks to the generosity of the London Arts and Humanities Partnership, I was awarded a three-month extension on my doctoral scholarship, which enabled me to embark on the initial phase of my “BIRI fieldwork project.”
This project was designed for an extended stay at several esteemed international institutions funded by the British Academy, with the goal of acquiring new, unpublished material for my PhD research.
It also aimed to forge new research opportunities and connections in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions. From mid-May to mid-August, I had the privilege of being affiliated with both the British School at Athens and the British Institute at Ankara.
These institutions offered invaluable support in accessing a vast array of new materials, notably the Squeezes Collection at the BIA, and the archives of various museums in the Peloponnese and Turkey. This was particularly true for museums near the Syrian border, such as those in Antakya, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, and Diyarbakır. The project also facilitated crucial connections with individuals and organizations involved in survey and excavation work, including securing the necessary permits from the Turkish Ministry of Culture to examine the epigraphical collections in the Archaeological Museum of Antakya.
