2004 was the final year of the TEMPER project in which Çatalhöyük was the lead partner. On behalf of the Çatalhöyük Research Project and all involved with TEMPER we wish to express our extended appreciation and thanks to Louise Doughty who managed the project with great efficiency and stamina over the course of its duration. She is missed and we wish her all the best in her new job at English Heritage.

This Mediterranean wide heritage project funded by the European Union involved five prehistoric sites in four Mediterranean countries: Çatalhöyük, Turkey; Paliambela Kolindros, Greece; Ubeidiya and Sha'ar Hagolan, Israel and Kordin III, Malta. The project had three key strands: the development of integrated site management plans; the development of educational programmes and the implementation of a training programme on heritage management.

Following research and development in 2002, the key implementation stages of the project took place in 2003: the development of the four management plans; onsite educational programmes (see Doughty 2003 for a fuller description), and the residential training course on management planning held at Oxford Brookes University, UK. Activities in 2004 focused on review and publication of the project results, and the project conference held in Rhodes in April.

In April 2004 the Temper project welcomed 100 delegates from 11 different countries to an international conference on heritage management and education called ‘Bringing the Past to Diverse Communities'. Held on the Greek island of Rhodes, delegates travelled from France, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Gibraltar and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Temper countries of the UK, Greece, Turkey, Malta and Israel for the three-day conference from 16 th – 18 th April. The aim of the project was to showcase the wealth of work already being undertaken in the Mediterranean in the fields of heritage management, public presentation and interpretation at prehistoric sites.

The Temper project will be publishing two volumes on heritage, management and education. The first, authored by the Temper team members, presents the results of the project with case studies of the educational programmes, the four management plans on an accompanying CD and thematic chapters discussing issues such as conservation, visitor management and public participation at prehistoric sites. The project has successfully secured additional funding from the Kress Foundation, USA to publish the conference proceedings as a second volume. Both will be published as part of the McDonald Monograph series and will be available from the McDonald Institute of Archaeology, University of Cambridge.

As a result of the Temper project: four management plans for five prehistoric sites have been developed (the two sites in Israel are covered by the same plan); over 1000 children have been involved in educational programmes, of which nearly 700 visited a prehistoric site, many for the first time, and 52 archaeologists from Turkey, Greece, Malta and Israel participated in training events in Turkey, Malta and the UK. Guide books, CD Roms, websites, school books, posters and play cards have been published about Çatalhöyük, Turkey, Paliambela Kolindros, Greece and Kordin III in Malta. The Temper publication includes copies of the management plans and two sets of guidelines on developing management plans and educational programmes for prehistoric sites.

In relation to Çatalhöyük, the project has already led to a number of long-lasting benefits. One of the recommendations of the management plan is to nominate Çatalhöyük for inclusion on the tentative list of World Heritage sites in Turkey, which took place this summer. As an evaluation of the management and protection procedures in place at a site forms part of the assessment for World Heritage status, the fact that Çatalhöyük has a management plan in place should aid its application.