For other regions or specializations, see the Fieldwork Opportunities page on the Institute's website.

 

General Resources on Archaeological Projects in Turkey

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Kilise Tepe: Rescue Excavation in the Göksu Valley, Turkey. (An interesting report from the site: Contextual Analysis of the Use of Space at Two Near Eastern Bronze Age Sites, Part 3: The Excavations at Kilise Tepe (1994-98) by J. N. Postgate (1998).)
  • Aphrodisias Project. Roman-period city in ancient Caria, SW Turkey, which was famous in antiquity for its sanctuary of Aphrodite and its marble sculptors. New York University has conducted extensive excavations since 1961, since 1995 with the collaboration of Oxford University. Often accepts graduate and undergraduate students if they are good draftsmen (esp. architects). 
  • 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 (see the 42nd meeting's website) 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 often the best place to arrange for your prospective 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.

 

Permit Applications for Museum Research

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 Conduct Research in Turkey . 

 

Financial Support for Fieldwork

See Where can you find funding on our Fieldwork Opportunities page, as well as the ARIT and ASOR pages linked above.

 

Based on resources compiled by Omur Harmansah in 2007