A study about identification, classification and preservation of signs as an organizer of Hellenistic buildings in Western Anatolia

The monumental building productions that took place in antiquity have been carried out as a result of good planning and a good application process in parallel to this. This process, which is a reflection of the search for perfection in that period, is based on the principle of finding constructing methods that will help producers to produce their final products in an effective and error-free way during the construction activities. Many of the construction activities leave some traces on architectural elements. Many traces of these planned and effective building production activities which had a functional counterpart within the time of implementation, have been able to reach present day through the construction element they have been applied. Observations on architectural elements give important clues to many scientists, especially archaeologists, architects and historians. The identification, classification, documentation and interpretation of these traces facilitate the understanding of building production techniques, technologies and life practices in Hellenistic period. It is also important today that these works are understood, brought together and exhibited. Questions about how the stones were moved and placed after the elements were removed from the quarry; and how the stones was assembled and how their fixations made can be answered by interpretation of the transportation and assembling marks. The information on how and where the elements have placed and how they are shaped can be understood by examining the application marks. Masons marks, which provide guidance during the positioning process of pre-determined architectural elements and provide information about the identity of the stone master or the workshop, provide important data about the planning and organization of the Ancient times. This study is based on the principle of classifying all of these marks and conveying how they relate to the construction process of the period. In this study, it will be discussed how the signs can inform the restitution studies in the context of the archaeological restoration as well as the information about the construction periods of the Hellenistic period. These marks, which are vunerable to natural and human influences, will also be presented with the ideas about the deterioration situations and precautions to be taken for their disappearance. Finally, the study, which will introduce a conservation proposal for the Apollon Klarios Sanctuary, will present physical protection equipment recommendations for protection of these marks.