Gordion Archaeological Project
Curatorial Section
Research Discipline
Archaeology
Dates
1950 - 2012
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Give Now- Location Information
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Gordion is located near the modern village of Yassıhöyük—100 km southwest of Ankara—in Central Turkey.
- Time Period Studied
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Gordion has been occupied for more than 4,000 years from the Bronze Age to modern times.
- Researcher(s)
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- C. Brian Rose, Ph.D., Project Director, Ferry Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, Penn Museum
- Ayşe Gürsan-Salzmann, Ph.D., Assistant Director, Consulting Scholar, Mediterranean Section, Penn Museum
- Elisa Del Bono, Director, Site Conservation Program
- Gareth Darbyshire, Gordion Archivist, Mediterranean Section, Penn Museum
Team Members
Gebhard Bieg; Canan Çakırlar; Kim Codella; Braden Cordivari; Gül Gürtekin-Demir; Elspeth Dusinberre; Andrew Goldman; Peter Grave; Ken Harl; Ömür Harmanşah; Sam Holzman; Janet Jones; Lisa Kealhofer; Richard Liebhart; Kathleen Lynch; Naomi Miller; Phoebe Sheftel; Elizabeth Simpson; Billur Tekkök; Maya Vassileva; Mary Voigt; Asil Yaman
- Project Overview
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Gordion is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, occupied for more than 4,000 years from the Bronze Age to modern times. It had a strategically important location in what is now Central Turkey (100 km southwest of Ankara). Its heyday was in the first half of the first millennium BCE when it was the royal capital of the powerful Iron Age kingdom known as Phrygia to the Greeks and Mushki to the neighboring Assyrian empire. It was a major center of population, with an urban fabric spread over two kilometers, dominated by monumental buildings and fortifications and over 100 elite burial mounds. Its fabled king Midas, in myth cursed with asses' ears and the "golden touch," was actually a real figure, and it was here too that Alexander the Great was said to have cut the famous Gordian Knot. Since 1950, Gordion has been extensively investigated by the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions, in over 30 annual excavation campaigns. These investigations, on a scale rivaled by few other archaeological projects, have uncovered an impressive portion of the physical fabric of this major administrative center, and furnished unusually plentiful material for evaluating many attributes of life and society in those distant times. As important, the evidence highlights gaps in our understanding, framing fascinating questions for future research to resolve.
Visit The Gordion Archaeological Project website
- Additional Sponsors
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- 1984 Foundation
- Kress Foundation
Gordion is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, royal capital of King Midas and the place where Alexander the Great was said to have cut the famous Gordian Knot.