ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the discourses of heritage and identity that underpin their fieldwork in the Mediterranean. It discusses the history of classical field archaeology in the Mediterranean, in order to investigate the particularities of the Danish work in Bodrum. The act of excavating the Mausoleum thus already held considerable symbolic capital, both internationally and in the Danish context. The chapter focuses on Kristian Jeppesen’s efforts to excavate and to reconstruct the Mausoleum, especially on how his academic training produced very particular forms of classical heritage. It explores how the archaeology of Bodrum has been approached by Danish archaeologists in more work, as well as some of the challenges that face Mediterranean field archaeology more generally in light of the changing relationship between Europe and Turkey. The explicit aim of the new project is to restore the grandeur of Bodrum’s past and to reclaim the city’s role as home to one of the wonders of the ancient world.
