This contribution presents the results of a pilot study of earthen materials excavated at the Mid... more This contribution presents the results of a pilot study of earthen materials excavated at the Middle to Late Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı, located in western Anatolia. It argues that systematic collection and analysis of fragmentary and difficult -to -identify earthen materials is challenging, yet crucial. These materials inform on activities of which traces are preserved in the archaeological record but which have been largely under--researched. Flourishing studies on earthen findings foreground architectural materials, such as mudbrick, and well -preserved features and objects. However, earthen objects and architectural features were utilized more widely than in building architecture and only a small portion of excavated sites has good preservation. We, therefore, present the different categories of earthen materials discovered at Kaymakçı, specifically architecture, installations, and portable items. Our work demonstrates that by incorporating new knowledge of archaeological remains at the site and re -studying the earthen assemblage it is possible to gain a better understanding of the morphological, functional, and social aspects of this dataset.
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2018
In her formative work, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, Dolores Hayden (19... more In her formative work, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, Dolores Hayden (1995) argued convincingly for the inevitable connection between the natural environment of a location and the people who occupy it. The U.S. Overseas Research Centers (ORCs) are the very embodiment of Hayden’s power of place—a space for people, foreigners and locals, to engage in a single location. For over a century, the ORCs have been the primary setting where American researchers in the humanities and social sciences and in-country scholars, students, and locals meet each other and foster the seeds of collaboration. In so doing, not only are these places key incubation areas for academic knowledge production, but also nodes of heritage diplomacy. The hope of the respective ORCs is that they provide neutral spaces for active, dynamic, and positive exchanges of ideas that inspire on-the-ground research and educational engagement. Ideally, ORCs put scholars “in the thick of things” and fulfill a diplomatic mission of the U.S. government: people-to-people interaction and the establishment of long-term networks, which promote mutual understanding and respect. Contributions in this issue establish that ORCs are powerful places in the eastern Mediterranean. In this issue, we have asked individuals who interact routinely with ORCs to reflect I N T R O D U C T I O N: T H E P O W E R O F P L A C E AT T H E U.S . O V E R S E A S R E S E A R C H C E N T E R S , H E R I TA G E D I P L O M A C Y, A N D A R C H A E O L O G Y
Current understandings of the archaeology of second-millennium B.C.E. central western Anatolia ar... more Current understandings of the archaeology of second-millennium B.C.E. central western Anatolia are enriched by ongoing research at Kaymakçı, located in the Marmara Lake basin of the middle Gediz River valley in western Turkey. Discovered during regional survey in 2001, the site offers a critical node of exploration for understanding a previously unexamined period in a well-traversed geography thought to be the core of the Late Bronze Age Seha River Land known from Hittite texts. Here we present results from the first three seasons of excavation on the citadel of Kaymakçı plus a study season (2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), introducing the site's chronology, historical and regional context, and significance through presentation of excavation areas as well as material and subsistence economies. With reference to such evidence, we discuss the site's development, organization, and interregional interactions, demonstrating its place in local and regional networks that connected Aegean and central Anatolian spheres of interest. 1 1 For research permissions and assistance, we gratefully acknowledge the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and its annual representatives Ö. Çavga, S. Yılmaz, L. Pancar, and N. Okan, as well as the Manisa Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, its current and former directors H. Güllü and S. Soyaker, and their staff.
In both western Turkey and the Levant, archaeology has a long history, with the rise in interest ... more In both western Turkey and the Levant, archaeology has a long history, with the rise in interest and discovery beginning in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While many have focused on the history of excavations in both of these areas, we approach historical analyses from a different perspective. Utilizing the voices of local actors, this article aims to understand the social reactions of local communities to the increasingly prominent role of people practicing archaeology — archaeologists, diplomats, explorers — through the lens of the antiquities trade over the last two centuries. Interlacing examples from Lydia and the Levant, we provide an overview of archaeological praxis and then offer the positions of the participants, gathered from archival and published materials as well as more recent interviews, conversations, and correspondences.
This article charts the nascent development agendas for archaeological heritage and tourism at Pe... more This article charts the nascent development agendas for archaeological heritage and tourism at Petra in Jordan. We begin with the early internationalism of UNESCO and its participation programme for Petra followed by the restructuring of American foreign policy interests to embed heritage tourism within USAID projects. A technocratic tourismas-assistance model galvanised USAID and the World Bank's interest in Petra, as it did the CIA, the American Schools of Oriental Research, the US National Park Service, and Jordan's Department of Antiquities. Thus, we reveal how saving Petra was underwritten by an increasing American vigilance in the Middle East. Unlike the educational and humanitarian components of the United Nations programme, the USAID and World Bank initiatives at Petra were almost exclusively directed toward tourism development, generating hard-currency revenue, monetising the Nabataean ruins, and sowing the seeds of predatory capitalism. Our longitudinal study reveals that what has been sustained at Petra is not the preservation of heritage, nor support for local communities, but rather an overburden of international bureaucracy and consultancy culture.
This final chapter provides a reflection of the book. I bring together the key threads from each ... more This final chapter provides a reflection of the book. I bring together the key threads from each of the chapters to explore the contemporary context of heritage within the scope of ongoing development, from highways to solar fields. Among my primary points is that development and heritage have become increasingly entangled, yet heritage remains the underdog in this game. The scale of development reflects Turkey’s shifting position in the global landscape, particularly balancing EU agendas with those of Asia and the Middle East. Archaeology has a vexed position within these development schemes, and the practice of US citizens conducting archaeology in Turkey has become increasingly precarious. This is in part due to the entrenched position of the US Department of State not to support archaeological research linked to fieldwork. My goal here is to balance a summary of the book with some of these new themes.
This contribution presents the results of a pilot study of earthen materials excavated at the Mid... more This contribution presents the results of a pilot study of earthen materials excavated at the Middle to Late Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı, located in western Anatolia. It argues that systematic collection and analysis of fragmentary and difficult -to -identify earthen materials is challenging, yet crucial. These materials inform on activities of which traces are preserved in the archaeological record but which have been largely under--researched. Flourishing studies on earthen findings foreground architectural materials, such as mudbrick, and well -preserved features and objects. However, earthen objects and architectural features were utilized more widely than in building architecture and only a small portion of excavated sites has good preservation. We, therefore, present the different categories of earthen materials discovered at Kaymakçı, specifically architecture, installations, and portable items. Our work demonstrates that by incorporating new knowledge of archaeological remains at the site and re -studying the earthen assemblage it is possible to gain a better understanding of the morphological, functional, and social aspects of this dataset.
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2018
In her formative work, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, Dolores Hayden (19... more In her formative work, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History, Dolores Hayden (1995) argued convincingly for the inevitable connection between the natural environment of a location and the people who occupy it. The U.S. Overseas Research Centers (ORCs) are the very embodiment of Hayden’s power of place—a space for people, foreigners and locals, to engage in a single location. For over a century, the ORCs have been the primary setting where American researchers in the humanities and social sciences and in-country scholars, students, and locals meet each other and foster the seeds of collaboration. In so doing, not only are these places key incubation areas for academic knowledge production, but also nodes of heritage diplomacy. The hope of the respective ORCs is that they provide neutral spaces for active, dynamic, and positive exchanges of ideas that inspire on-the-ground research and educational engagement. Ideally, ORCs put scholars “in the thick of things” and fulfill a diplomatic mission of the U.S. government: people-to-people interaction and the establishment of long-term networks, which promote mutual understanding and respect. Contributions in this issue establish that ORCs are powerful places in the eastern Mediterranean. In this issue, we have asked individuals who interact routinely with ORCs to reflect I N T R O D U C T I O N: T H E P O W E R O F P L A C E AT T H E U.S . O V E R S E A S R E S E A R C H C E N T E R S , H E R I TA G E D I P L O M A C Y, A N D A R C H A E O L O G Y
Current understandings of the archaeology of second-millennium B.C.E. central western Anatolia ar... more Current understandings of the archaeology of second-millennium B.C.E. central western Anatolia are enriched by ongoing research at Kaymakçı, located in the Marmara Lake basin of the middle Gediz River valley in western Turkey. Discovered during regional survey in 2001, the site offers a critical node of exploration for understanding a previously unexamined period in a well-traversed geography thought to be the core of the Late Bronze Age Seha River Land known from Hittite texts. Here we present results from the first three seasons of excavation on the citadel of Kaymakçı plus a study season (2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), introducing the site's chronology, historical and regional context, and significance through presentation of excavation areas as well as material and subsistence economies. With reference to such evidence, we discuss the site's development, organization, and interregional interactions, demonstrating its place in local and regional networks that connected Aegean and central Anatolian spheres of interest. 1 1 For research permissions and assistance, we gratefully acknowledge the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and its annual representatives Ö. Çavga, S. Yılmaz, L. Pancar, and N. Okan, as well as the Manisa Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, its current and former directors H. Güllü and S. Soyaker, and their staff.
In both western Turkey and the Levant, archaeology has a long history, with the rise in interest ... more In both western Turkey and the Levant, archaeology has a long history, with the rise in interest and discovery beginning in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While many have focused on the history of excavations in both of these areas, we approach historical analyses from a different perspective. Utilizing the voices of local actors, this article aims to understand the social reactions of local communities to the increasingly prominent role of people practicing archaeology — archaeologists, diplomats, explorers — through the lens of the antiquities trade over the last two centuries. Interlacing examples from Lydia and the Levant, we provide an overview of archaeological praxis and then offer the positions of the participants, gathered from archival and published materials as well as more recent interviews, conversations, and correspondences.
This article charts the nascent development agendas for archaeological heritage and tourism at Pe... more This article charts the nascent development agendas for archaeological heritage and tourism at Petra in Jordan. We begin with the early internationalism of UNESCO and its participation programme for Petra followed by the restructuring of American foreign policy interests to embed heritage tourism within USAID projects. A technocratic tourismas-assistance model galvanised USAID and the World Bank's interest in Petra, as it did the CIA, the American Schools of Oriental Research, the US National Park Service, and Jordan's Department of Antiquities. Thus, we reveal how saving Petra was underwritten by an increasing American vigilance in the Middle East. Unlike the educational and humanitarian components of the United Nations programme, the USAID and World Bank initiatives at Petra were almost exclusively directed toward tourism development, generating hard-currency revenue, monetising the Nabataean ruins, and sowing the seeds of predatory capitalism. Our longitudinal study reveals that what has been sustained at Petra is not the preservation of heritage, nor support for local communities, but rather an overburden of international bureaucracy and consultancy culture.
This final chapter provides a reflection of the book. I bring together the key threads from each ... more This final chapter provides a reflection of the book. I bring together the key threads from each of the chapters to explore the contemporary context of heritage within the scope of ongoing development, from highways to solar fields. Among my primary points is that development and heritage have become increasingly entangled, yet heritage remains the underdog in this game. The scale of development reflects Turkey’s shifting position in the global landscape, particularly balancing EU agendas with those of Asia and the Middle East. Archaeology has a vexed position within these development schemes, and the practice of US citizens conducting archaeology in Turkey has become increasingly precarious. This is in part due to the entrenched position of the US Department of State not to support archaeological research linked to fieldwork. My goal here is to balance a summary of the book with some of these new themes.
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