Naomi's Gordion projects

Read all about it in Arkeoloji ve Sanat, no. 93 (1999), pp. 12-17 ("Erosion, Biodiversity, and Archaeology: Preserving the Midas Tumulus at Gordion")

Plants of Gordion, a work in progress

Mudball: the Movie, an experiment in building conservation

Gordion watercolors:

My Gordion-related publications

Archaeology

Miller, Naomi F., Melinda A. Zeder, and Susan R. Arter
2009 From Food and Fuel to Farms and Flocks: The Integration of Plant and Animal Remains in the Study of Ancient Agropastoral Economies at Gordion, Turkey. Current Anthropology 50: 915-924.

Patterning in the archaeobiological remains from Gordion, Turkey, provides evidence of a continuum in agropastoral practice. At one end, high ratios of seeds of wild plants vs. cultivated cereal grains (calculated as count/weight) and high proportions of the bones of sheep, goat, and deer are signatures of a subsistence economy focussed on pastoral production. At the other, low wild:cereal ratios along with high proportions of the bones of cattle, pig, and hare indicate an economy more focused on agriculture. The highpoint of agricultural intensification occurs in the Middle Phrygian period, a time of great wealth, but the norm for the region shows shows that the most sustainable land use around the ancient settlement emphasized pastoral production. The signatures for agricultural or pastoral emphasis is remarkably similar to that seen on sites along the Euphrates, as reported in MRPS 1997.

Miller, Naomi F.
2004 Long-Term Vegetation Changes in the Near East. In The Archaeology of Global Change. The Impact of Humans on Their Environment, eds. C.L. Redman, S.R. James, P.R. Fish, and J.D. Rogers, pp. 130-140. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. [Download pdf]

This chapter includes Gordion in the context of a broader discussion.

Miller, Naomi F.
1999 Seeds, Charcoal and Archaeological Context: Interpreting Ancient Environment and Patterns of Land Use. TÜBA-AR. 2: 15-27. [Download pdf]

Between the Late Bronze Age and the Medieval period, the arboreal vegetation available to the people of Gordion changed. Although they always had access to woodland types, there was a gradual increase in the use of trees of secondary forest (e.g., hawthorn) and riparian types (e.g., willow/poplar).

Ecopark

Miller, Naomi F.
2000 Plants in the Service of Archaeological Preservation. Expedition 42(1): 30-36.

Miller, Naomi F. and Kurt Bluemel
1999 Plants and Mudbrick: Preserving the Midas Tumulus at Gordion, Turkey. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 3: 225-237.

Learn how we set mudbrick to reduce erosion!

Miller, Naomi F.
1999 Erosion, Biodiversity, and Archaeology: Preserving the Midas Tumulus at Gordion/Erozyon, bioçeşitlilik ve arkeoloji: Gordion'daki Midas Höyüğü'nün Korunması. Arkeoloji ve Sanat 93: 13-17 + plate.

Biodiversity preservation and archaeological conservation are coming together as we develop methods of reducing soil erosion on the Midas Mound (c. 700 B.C., Gordion, Turkey) by getting native plants to thrive on the steep slopes of this 53-m high monument.

Miller, Naomi F.
1998 Archaeobotanists Preserve Midas's Wealth. Anthropology Newsletter 39 (4): 14-15.

Miller, Naomi F.
1994 Some Botanical Considerations for the Conservation and Preservation of Tumulus MM at Gordion. In Anadolu Medeniyetler Müzesi 1993 Yıllığı, Sayı VIII, pp. 181-183. Ankara.

Popular

Miller, Naomi F.
2002 Drawing on the Past, An Archaeologist's Sketchbook. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.
To order: call (800) 445-9880 or visit website.

This book includes many of my Gordion watercolors.

Miller, Naomi F., Kimberly E. Leaman, and Julie Unruh
2006 Serendipity: Secrets of the Mudballs. Expedition 48(3):40-41. And don't miss Mudball: The Movie!

The serendipitous discovery that the default shape of a mudball is biconical inspired research into spindle whorls. It turned out that all things being equal, center-weighted spindle whorls are most suited fibers that need more twist; linen fibers need a lot of twist, and the crimped, scaly fibers of sheep wool need relatively little twist. Early west Asian ceramic spindle whorls are normally biconical. It may be no coincidence, therefore, that our first evidence for spindle whorls roughly coincides with our first evidence for spun fibers, i.e., flax!