Message #83811

[Bianca]

Just beyond the house lies a large, low building.

This is the dig house, which provides accommodation for the teams of archaeologists who excavate
the site annually.

The dig is guided and coordinated by Ian Hodder of Cambridge University, who has been working here since 1993. The aim of this phase of work is to find out as much as possible about the way of life of Çatalhöyük's inhabitants, utilizing the latest methods.

Compared to Mellaart's era, progress is slow as new excavation techniques throw up more information but also take more time.

Although Hodder is Cambridge-based, this is an international effort with partners from the US, Poland, Israel, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Canada, plus students from Turkish universities including the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), İstanbul, Ankara, Ege, Anadolu, Çukorova and the local university, Konya Selçuk.

A project like this is expensive (around $1 million per season) and sponsorship essential with Koç,
Shell and Boeing amongst the corporate big boys helping to fund the excavations.

Perhaps even more exciting is the way in which the local villagers have been involved in this phase
of the project -- and not just in menial (though necessary) occupations such as guarding the site
from marauding flocks of sheep or cooking and cleaning for the archaeologists.

Some are tasked with sifting through soil samples and separating out and bagging bits of obsidian, pieces of bone and pottery shards for expert analysis.

In season as many as 80 excavators from all over the world, plus 40 local villagers, are hard at work
on this hot and exposed mound.