Recent Discoveries In Lycia

No excavation was done in Lycia following the interest Fellows sparked briefly in the 1850's and most of the sites remained untouched save for a small amount of digging by villagers. The first sign of a resurgence of interest in Lycia was the publication of Akurgal's (a famous Turkish archaeologist) work on the sixth-century AD reliefs of Lycia in 1941. Lycian studies advanced a bit further in 1962 when a French team (Demargne and Metzgen) began the excavation of Xanthos and its associated nearby sanctuary, Letoon. In the last two decades excavations have reached a peak with archaeological work at a number of sites. Currently there is a French team excavating Xanthos and Letoon. There is an Austrian team working at Limyra which regularly produces monographs on Lycian matters. A German team (Kolb,1990 - 1995 and Marksteiner, 1997) recently worked at Kyaneai and its associated territory at Arycanda (Bayburtoglu, 1993 - 2000).

Two international conferences on Lycia were held in Paris in 1979 and Vienna in 1990.

Recent publications on Lycia include George Bean's Lycian Turkey, a comprehensive guide to the archaeological sites, Neumann's collection of Lycian inscriptions discovered this century and the first volume of a major work intending to encompass all aspects of Lycian culture (Bryce, 1986). Dynastic Lycia, A Politcal History of the Lycians and Their Relations With Foreign Powers C. 545-362 BC. by Antony G. Keen (1998) is a large and scholarly study.

Despite the recent interest in Lycia, many Lycian sites remain virtually untouched and no one really knows what is buried under their ground. It may be much - the Turkish archeologist Cevdet Bayburtluoglu has begun uncovering the formerly obscure Arycanda which may prove to be one of the most spectacular ruin sites in all of Turkey. Work is also ongoing at Patara, where an extensive city is being unearthed from the sand.