David French obituary
In the early 1970s, a short article by a little-known US scholar reported the discovery of an ancient road near the site of Gordion, the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia. This article, and his own chance encounter on a family picnic with a batch of undocumented Roman milestones next to a stretch of Roman road west of the modern Turkish capital, Ankara, inspired the archaeologist David French, who has died aged 83, to start the project that occupied him for the rest of his life. This was a comprehensive study, based on field work which took him to every corner of Turkey, of all aspects of the Roman roads of Asia Minor: milestones, road surfaces, bridges, the imperial road stations, and military installations.
He combined classical training with archaeological experience and an intimate knowledge of Turkey to acquire a more profound understanding of the topographical history of Anatolia - Asiatic Turkey - than any other scholar past or present. His passion for roads and routes extended from the Roman empire back to its Hittite and Persian predecessors and forward to the Ottoman period. At the start of his project, about 450 milestones were known from Asia Minor; by 2016, his discoveries had raised this number to more than 1,200. The research, carried out single-handed in the company of a series of Turkish government representatives, was a perfect match for his skills and character.
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