Domuztepe dig diary
Week four: a VIP site visit
British Museum curator Alexandra Fletcher reports from Domuztepe
The governor of the Kahramanmaraş district came to visit the Domuztepe site this week and created a whirlwind of activity. The heads of two local villages and the nearest town worked together to make everything perfect for such an important occasion. A whole new road was built to provide better access to the excavations and a new shelter was built, so that the governor could take breakfast on site during his visit.
The big day dawned and the army and military
police were 
everywhere. All the local roads were closed and
helicopters circled overhead. Nevertheless, we loaded up our
minibus as normal and set out for the site. When we arrived
preparations for the visit were well underway, despite it being
only just 06.00. A catering company were cooking breakfast
balanced on tractor trailers and tables and chairs were being set
out.
The governor arrive
d in a cavalcade of
nine cars, so parking on the slope of the site became a bit of an
issue. We were all introduced and he took a tour of all the
trenches. We all then ate an elegant breakfast in the new shelter.
Freshly cooked food was a bit of a change from our normal 09.00
‘breakfast’ of bread, salad and cheese, which is usually eaten
sitting on the ground. The governor also visited the workroom in
our camp to see what we had found so far this year. Everyone seemed
to enjoy the visit and we are already hoping he’ll come again next
year.
Read more about the Domuztepe research project
Images (from top):
- Making breakfast on the back of a tractor trailer
- The governor visits
- Chairs and tables are set out ready for the governor