Science meets Society Part 1
Bilingual Information Boards for Ancient ruins in Lycia: Viennese Research from the 1990s
The project “Science meets Society” aims to make the knowledge gained via the initiatives of European research institutions in the late 20th century regarding the cultural heritage of the Anatolian Mediterranean region available to a broader public.
In the 1990s, humanistic and cultural research in the ancient cultural landscape of Lycia experienced a heyday, yielding important results concerning the history and cultural history of Lycia from the 5th century B.C. until the modern period.
By means of numerous archaeological studies and surveys, the ancient Lycian landscape, formerly “terra incognita”, can again be charted. The results of these studies were published in scientific publications and therefore are generally only available to an expert audience.
Nevertheless, the ruins of ancient cities, at that time only known to a few shepherds and archaeologists, are today generally well accessed by new roads, forest tracks and hiking trails, and are therefore easier to visit. Due to the rise in number of visitors to the Lycian interior and increasing interest on the part of the local population, it is worthwhile and desirable to convey the information resulting from the scientific investigations regarding the history of the region to a broader public.
The focus of the first phase of the project lies on Viennese research from the 1990s in Lycia. Via the erection of bilingual (Turkish/English) information boards on site, the results of the Viennese cultural-historical studies, valid even today as unique sources of knowledge, should be conveyed, disseminated, and made visible.
To this end, on the initiative of the Diskeles Society, a pilot project in the area of Bonda Tepesi (eastern Lycia/Finike) was initiated. With the kind permission of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, in the summer of 2018, in cooperation with the municipality of Finike and the Antalya Museum, two information boards were set up for the ruins at the Yalakbaşı and at the nearby Sanctuary of Sumendis. We would like to express our gratitude to all of the participating Turkish authorities for their support and cooperation.
Additional information boards for the entire Bonda region (eastern Lycia) and for Istlada/ Hayıtlı (central Lycia) are in preparation. Finally an archaeological visitors route, also in digital form is planned.
We would be happy if you would like to support our work with a donation.
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IBAN: AT85 2011 1839 1804 3000
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