Protecting Çatalhöyük : memoir of an archaeological site guard

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Bibliographic Information

Protecting Çatalhöyük : memoir of an archaeological site guard

Sadrettin Dural ; with contributions by Ian Hodder ; translated by Duygu Camurcuoğlu Cleere

Left Coast Press, c2007

  • : hc
  • : pbk

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. 157-160

Description and Table of Contents

Description

They are essential to every major archaeological excavation but rarely acknowledged by the visiting researchers once the artifacts have been shipped. As part of the innovative, multivocal output from the famous Turkish Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk, we hear from one of the site guards, Sadrettin Dural, who tells the story of the excavation from the point of view of the "Other." He offers tales of the strange habits of archaeologists, describes the local in-fighting that scholars never see, and explains how scientists can be protected from the Yatirs, spirits of the dead who guard the mound. Ian Hodder, director of the Catalhoeyuk project, provides explanatory notes for the reader and an interview with the author, exploring indigenous interpretations of ancient sites and the archaeologists who excavate them. For the archaeologist, this offers a revolutionary new viewpoint on their work. For the cultural anthropologist, Dural's role as site guard is only a small part of his life as a Turkish villager. The author recounts the daily lived experience of one man in a contemporary Turkish village, including changing economic strategies for supporting his family, brushes with the law, trips to the beach and the city, and Turkish phone sex.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 1 Beginning my new job at AatalhAyA1/4k
  • Chapter 2 Excavations begin'" The team settles in
  • Chapter 3 My routine as a guard
  • Chapter 4 Loneliness and friendship among the ancient mounds of the Konya plain
  • Chapter 5 I build the AatalhAyA1/4k cafe
  • Chapter 6 Dealing with more visitors and foreigners
  • Chapter 7 Some less happy memories
  • Chapter 8 The past and the present
  • Chapter 9 Dealing with each other
  • Chapter 10 Doing the right thing
  • Chapter 11 More about AatalhAyA1/4k
  • Chapter 12 Some erotic moments
  • Chapter 13 Financial dealings
  • Chapter 14 More visitors to AatalhAyA1/4k and some difficult moments
  • Chapter 15 They stroke the soil with love
  • Chapter 16 Things start to go wrong
  • Chapter 17 The situation worsens
  • Chapter 18 Reaching the end

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