Common Ground: Archaeological Practice and Local Communities in Southeastern Turkey
Résumé
Archaeologists often come across ancient human burials during excavations. Less often, however, do human burials come across archaeological excavations. This happened though, at a site in southeastern Turkey a few years ago. When a funeral procession interrupted operations on the mound of Ziyaret Tepe, archaeologists confronted the dilemma of maintaining an excavation site as a scientific space in real-world contexts that are anything but sterile (void of contemporary meaning) or controlled (void of competing claims). The funeral event exposed the salience of the mound as both a sacred and scientific landmark, and brought to the fore numerous historical, political and cultural factors that rarely receive acknowledgement in the field or in publication. We outline these various influences on archaeological practice at Ziyaret Tepe, and use this unexpected funeral to advocate for a community archaeology that broadens the value of excavation by respecting a site’s valence as something other than a scientific space.
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