My thesis explores how archaeological sites can continue to exert agency long after their supposed 'abandonment'. My work focuses on the Turkish village of Geyre, an Ottoman settlement situated amongst the ruins of Aphrodisias in Caria, once a major Roman-period urban centre. I examine the nature of the relationship between the inhabitants of Geyre and the ruins of Roman Aphrodisias, and how standing archaeological remains influenced life on the site into the twentieth century.
