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Resources for Fieldwork in Turkey

Compiled by Omur Harmansah in 2007

For other areas, see also Fieldwork Opportunities.

General resources on archaeological projects in Turkey

  • Current Archaeological Projects in Turkey. A resource for archaeological research in Turkey. This site aims to provide up-to-date information on projects currently operating in Turkey and is revised regularly.
  • British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. The British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) supports, facilitates, promotes and publishes British research focused on Turkey and the Black Sea littoral within the arts, humanities and social sciences, whilst maintaining a centre in Ankara focused on the archaeology of Turkey. They have a good library in Ankara on Anatolian archaeology and the institute can be a good source of survey equipment to rent if you become a member. Here is a list of ongoing and recent archaeological projects affiliated with the Institute. BIAA also grants fellowships for archaeological research in Turkey.
  • The Netherlands Historical and Archaeological Institute, Istanbul: "a non-profit making academic research institute based in Istanbul and is affiliated to the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO), which is based at Leiden University in the Netherlands. They do exist, have a good library in Istanbul, but their website is defunct.
  • TAY Project. Attempting to create a collaborative chronological database/inventory of archaeological sites in Turkey.

Individual Projects

  • Kerkenes Dag Project: Archaeological survey and excavations of an Iron age mountain-top settlement in the East-Central Anatolian plateau. Usually open to new graduate and undergraduate students to work as volunteers.
  • Göksu Archaeological Project: archaeological survey located in a remote area of the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, between the modern cities of Mut and Karaman.
  • Aphrodisias Project. Classical. NYU Based. Usually accepts graduate and undergraduate students if they are good draftsmen (esp. architects). See also info on the project here.
  • Kinet Höyük. Excavations based at Bilkent University. Middle Bronze to Iron Age site.
  • Archaeological Exploration of Sardis. Lydian site 60 miles east of Izmir. An interdisciplinary program of excavation and research jointly sponsored by the Harvard University Art Museums and Cornell University.

Participating an archaeological project in Turkey

International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry in Turkey is a huge gathering of archaeologists who work in Turkey. It usually meets in a major city in Turkey during the last weekend of May. By Turkish antiquities law, all excavations, surveys and other archaeological projects are required to report at this meeting. So it is always the best place to arrange for your prosective field project.

The permit applications for all archaeological projects are submitted to the Turkish Ministry of Culture at the end of December, and all projects need to have the list of their participants by then. Therefore if you are planning to join a team in the summer, make sure to be in touch with the director of the project way before December.

Research Permit Applications

If, as a graduate student, you need to apply for a research permit,for working at any of the Turkish museums, you will need apply to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Museums individually. The approval for such research actually comes from each local museum itself. Therefore, going and meeting the museum employees prior to your permit application will help tremendously. Here is ARIT's page on Recommended procedures for requesting a permit to carry out research in Turkey.

Financial support for fieldwork

Map of some of the current archaeological projects in Turkey:


Click here for a larger map (Source: AJA 107 (2003) 72: fig. 1)