15/01/2026
🏆 We have a winner! The winning photo for our 15th Anniversary Alumni Photo Contest was submitted by Ava, who participated in the Pinarbaşı excavation in 🇹🇷 during the 2022 field season.
Here are a few more memories Ava shared from her field school program:
📸 1. [Photo contest winner] During excavation, we had to use a LOT of sunscreen, which was always funny to our local team members who were not used to this practice! I am especially fair-skinned and could often be found accidentally applying too much. Here is a photo of me, grinning with my sunscreen!
📸2. The site we were excavating had previously been excavated but also looted before our arrival. This resulted in many layers of stratigraphy present at the same time, dating to different periods. It was a puzzle to work together as a team to effectively excavate each area!
📸 3. We were lucky enough to have many women on our team, and we would often bond by going to the local ice cream shop together in Karaman after we finished work for the day.
📸 4. My friend Sophia and I were very excited to visit Cappadocia during one of our weekend excursions! She was a graduating senior during the program, and I was a rising sophomore, so the weekend excursions gave us a beautiful opportunity to bond before she entered her next chapter of life in grad school.
📸 5. The area in which we did floatation in the field was home to a mama cat with beautiful kittens! We would bond with them while doing our work. It was always a funny sight to watch them climb up on top of my friends' shoulders, tempting them to play in the middle of the workday.
📸 6. Every day, we would drive an hour from Karaman into the field in one tiny van packed full of archaeology students. Sometimes, it was bumpy and dusty, but often, it was full of conversation, laughter, and beautiful views. I am grateful for these car rides where we got to bond and unwind after the workday.
Congratulations Ava, and thank you to everyone who voted for our finalists!
