DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AS A VISITOR ATTRACTION
Figure 10. Top left: Press day in the Visitor Centre with the season's finds on secured display. Top right: Tour of conserved and presented Neolithic Building (5). Bottom left: Replica oven in the Experimental House. Bottom right: Tour of the South Area.
Since the onset we have been working towards site presentation and interpretation. To this end we have constructed an on-site Visitor Centre furnished with information panels and replica artefacts (Fig 10. top left). We have placed an excavated Neolithic house on permanent display (Building 5), (Fig 10. top right), and we have constructed and furnished a replica Neolithic house which we call the Experimental House (Fig 10. bottom left). We also aimed to arrest further deterioration of the 1960s trenches that had suffered severe erosion and collapse. This we have done by backfilling some of the old trenches, the most ideal solution for preservation, in areas where no further work was to be conducted. The South Area, however, which incorporates the largest 1960s trench, has been covered with a large protective shelter. This allows for on-going excavations and display with information panels for visitors (Fig 10. bottom right). There is still much to be done however and this year we were fortunate to have a team headed by Nick Merriman, Curator of Museums & Collections and Reader in Museum Studies from University College London, to direct this work. Nick Merriman visited the site for a three day period to plan future projects to improve the existing interpretation. The visitor centre and on-site areas were reviewed, together with documentation such as the Çatalhöyük Management Plan, visitor surveys, and published discussions of the public aspects of the project. From this, a draft strategy for developing public interpretation and engagement at Çatalhöyük was produced, and circulated for comment amongst team members. The broad approach outlined in this document was accepted as the basis for developing the approach to future interpretation on site. It will be used to develop specific interpretive projects for the 2005 season and beyond.
In addition, Nick Merriman and Stanford University student Karis Eklund worked together to develop a script for a new introductory video for the visitor centre, which attempts to provide an overview of the site, the history of excavations, and its importance. The video was then produced as a DVD by Karis Eklund, Ona Johnson and Jason Qunilan with commentary in both Turkish and English. With a final running time of c. 8 minutes, the video was made available in the visitor centre towards the end of the field season and is by all accounts very effective. |
