The Dig House
It has always been clear that excavation at Çatalhöyük would depend on the construction of facilities for conservation, storage and display of the wall paintings and sculptures. Plans have been prepared by an architect attached to the Konya Museums service. These concern the first phase of building at the site - the construction of a building with 1500 sq m roofed space, providing living accommodation for those working at the site and for visitors, seminar room/library, stores, laboratories for conservation and archaeological science, museum. This facility will be used by the project, but it will also be available for use throughout the year by METU and other universities in Turkey. It will also act as a training centre in archaeological science, conservation science and heritage management. Staff and students from Turkish and East Mediterranean universities, museums and government departments will be able to visit this 'centre of excellence' in order to learn about the latest developments from national and international consultants. For example, training will take place in conservation of wall paintings and in the use of multi-media computing and interactive video.
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The museum area in the planned building is small and will in the future need to be replaced by a separate building housing the museum and visitor centre with further storage space. The total costs of the first building are currently £150,000 with at least an extra £60,000 needed for provisioning the laboratories. |
The use of the facility at Çatalhöyük will be spearheaded by METU in conjunction with the Çatalhöyük Research Trust and the BIAA. Tübitak has indicated a willingness to be involved in the provisioning of the laboratories. Training programmes will also involve the following partners: The Department of Archaeology and Engineering, Cairo University, the Department of Archaeology, University of Thessaloniki, and Paola and Laura Mora, Italy.
So far (as of the end of 1996) about one third of the planned dig house has been constructed, including 4 laboratories, accommodation and a dining area/exhibition space.