Current Project

Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Visitors touring the excavations under the newest protective structure at Çatalhöyük.

• GHF Projects
• Our Vanishing Heritage
• Preservation Fellowship Program

Completed in 2009
Çatalhöyük: A Preservation Success Story in
Central Turkey

Site Significance
The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük is a mound or ‘höyük’ in central Turkey near Konya that dates to 7400 to 6000 BCE. There are 18 levels of successive occupation, and in each level there is a large (up to 13 hectares in area) ‘town’ comprised of buildings built against each other with access through the roof. Significantly, Çatalhöyük has revealed some of the world’s earliest extensive mural art, and the site is often seen as crucial to understanding the origin of civilization in Turkey and the greater Middle East although the site was long endangered by the effects of erosion and a lack of local conservation expertise.

Challenges, Solutions and GHF Involvement
Previous research at the site has demonstrated that effective conservation of mudbrick architecture, moldings and painting at the site is only possible under shelter, so the protection of these fragile and priceless works of prehistoric art through excavation sheltering, scientific conservation and training were the focus of GHF’s efforts at the site.

To that end, GHF funded site conservation, planning, interpretation, training and the construction of a new 25m x 40m shelter over 20 buildings in the 4040 Area. This new shelter, completed in 2008, allows the preservation of delicate remains and demonstrates how early mudbrick sites elsewhere in the Middle East can be placed on display as they have rarely been before; it also improves the tourist experience in the region by providing a comfortable shelter with informative panels, and it provides an opportunity for training and capacity building within the local community.

In 2009 a large amount of conservation work was done in the 4040 shelter, consolidating walls and plasters and putting buildings on display. Variation in RH (Relative Humidity) is being monitored and reveals that very large variation is occurring that will necessitate more closure of the shelter, different treatments, and shorter term displays of individual buildings. Special attention was paid to the conservation of the burned buildings 77 and 52, and local labor and contractors were used to replace the end panels on the 4040 shelter so that variation in RH in the shelter could be better controlled.

Community Development
Members of the local community gained training in the conservation and treatment of wall paintings, and Turkish students from Istanbul University, Middle East Technical University (METU), and London University participated in a series of conservation and site preservation tasks including cutting and lifting walls with plaster reliefs and paintings for display in Konya museum.

Members of the local community and students and researchers have been taken to the UK and USA on Çatalhöyük Scholarships – so far 23 people have benefited in this way. Members of the local community are also involved in the research at the site, in workshops during the ‘post-excavation’ phase of the project. Their contributions are published in the final publication volumes of the project. There has been much training of local community members in conservation, site development, and in heritage craft production and regeneration.

Also, as in previous years, for a full month 20 children came to the site each day to spend a full day learning about the site, sieving back-dirt for finds, making paintings and sculptures and doing other activities. This year 560 children attended this scheme which is being used as a model at sites and museum elsewhere in Turkey (e.g. in the National Museum in Ankara). The scheme is run by Gülay Sert.