Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Newsletter
of the
Department of Archaeology
&
History of Art
this way and some excavations and
surveys were essentially cancelled. Thus
my promised report on the Roman Bridge
near Kinet Höyük is missing from this
issue, since permission for this project
came on the very last day of the
excavation season, while the team was
packing its suitcases!
These Newsletters have now become a
familiar item and their articles are already
quoted in other publications. Like the 2
previous issues, this Newsletter contains
many articles on various subjects and
different levels of seriousness. Some are
interesting and informative for the general
public, others are more specialized and
the rest are more a memory for those who
participated in the department’s activities.
In another development, this department is
a participant in the pipeline project from
Baku to Ceyhan. A report on that project
can be read in this Newsletter.
Archaeological monitors are currently
working on the stretch near the northern
border of Turkey, following the topsoil
stripping and the digging of the long
trench. This work is not as exciting as the
monitors might have expected, and the
project doesn’t run as well oiled as one
might expect from an oil and gas concern.
One policy in this department is that a
speaker who is invited to give a lecture
also has to write an article for the
Newsletter. Another is that students who
have finished their MA can submit an
article about their thesis.
This year’s issue has the usual excursions
to places of archaeological and art
historical interest in Turkey, and the yearly
fieldtrip to a foreign country, which in 2004
was to Syria.
Only 500 copies were printed of
Newsletters 1 and 2. The second one is
“sold out”, but some copies of Newsletter 1
are still available.
For Department members involved in
excavations and the archaeological
community 2003 will also be a year not to
be forgotten. Confusion started directly
after the Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, the
annual symposium about the results of the
previous year’s excavations in this
country. In May 2003, the newly formed
Turkish
government
combined
the
Ministries of Culture and Tourism: now,
with a ‘tourism culture’, archaeological
sites exist to attract tourists! As a result of
this fusion of ministries, excavation
permits were considerably delayed, or not
issued at all. Even when issued, often
there was no government representative
available. All this meant that many
excavations started much too late or not at
all. In addition, when the permit was
issued, it often was too late for foreign
participants to get their research visa, or
their flight tickets had expired or no
transport could be found at such short
notice. Much time and money were wasted
An Internet version of both editions, with
colored illustrations, can be found at:
http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~arkeo/newsletter/newsle0.html
and
http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~arkeo/newsletter2/newsle0.html
I hope you have pleasure in reading
Newsletter No. 3.
B. Claasz Coockson
Newsletter editor
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