Colors of the Work: Restoration Studies at the Oikoi and at the Doric Building by İrem Betül Cansever

I was very excited and anxious before I came to Labraunda. Even though it would not be my first excavation experience. Every site has its own system and principles; that might create new conditions to get used to. Besides, it will be my first excavation experience concerning what I want to study in the future.

When it comes to restoration I do not have any idea that it could be that much fun. As a person who has her education in archaeology, I start to feel like a doctor healing stones and saving their lives from the first day. It’s not the same thing as doctors do for sure; but considering the respect to the history, I perceived the enlightenment of protection inside.

Figure 1: Me and my college Sena removing the plants of the North Room of Oikoi

We had a tour around the site in the first day and took photographs. The most beneficial part of the tour for me was to learn a bit about the site, it provides a consciousness to the person who works there. Our aim this year was to work on two ancient buildings, both from the Hekatomnid era. The first one is the Oikoi building, dedicated by Idrieus in the 360s and offered to Zeus Labraundos. It was probably the treasury house of the sanctuary. The second one is the Doric house, a monumental fountain house also built by Idrieus. 

We started with the Oikoi by removing the plants and cleaning the area we would work on as a team. The next step in restoration of the Oikoi, was applying biocide on the pillars to prevent the growing of the new plants. They stay covered for a few days, and meanwhile we continued on by filling the holes on the roman pillars with mortar. Restoration is filled with surprises. It’s fascinating that we can recycle the ancient mortar, sieve it and mix with the modern lime. Cristina, our head restorator, uses kasein as glue for the mortar. Then we opened up the protection for biocide on the pillars and started removing the moss with scalpel and some solutions. The more detailed our work became the more satisfied I got. It seems like the pillars could breathe after we took of the greenish guests on them.

Figure 2: Cristina, me and Sena started to clean, taken by Görkem

Then came the Doric Building. It was a building restored two years ago, but with the help of curious tourists and the plants, things done before had lost their effect for protection. Therefore, the team stepped in and does the cleaning. It was incredible to see how good it looks even just after the cleaning. I’m sure that the Doric building will look brilliant after the restoration.

Figure 3: Sena working in the Doric Building

We are not only working but also having fun with the objects around that need care. For instance, I had an opportunity to witness lifting of a column and fixing its position. Also we remove the rust of some lockers of the storage so that they could move easily.

Figure 4: Us having fun with the rusty lockers, taken by Görkem

Figure 5: The team with the lifted column

At the end of two weeks, while looking at the photos of the first day, I got fascinated by how much our work makes a difference and how proud we become. These two weeks reminded me the significance and the importance of the teamwork and the good communication between the team members. I could feel the harmony between us while we were working and one could hear our happiness from outside. I can say that I am very excited by the results of our work at the end. It became something meaningful, more than work to me, the restoration coloured my summer and provided me with an immense opportunity to learn and have fun at the same time.

Figure 6: Us having fun after work