Domuztepe dig diary
Week one: getting there
British Museum curator Alexandra Fletcher reports from
Domuztepe
‘Madam you are very overweight,’.... I grin at the man behind
the airport check-in desk and pay for the excess baggage. My bags
contain everything I need for an archaeological dig and getting on
a plane is the first step of a long journey to south-central
Turkey, where we will be working for the next six weeks.
Two flights, a taxi ride and two bus journeys later I arrive on
site to a chorus of greetings from the dig team and see Domuztepe,
our site, for the first time in three years..
Domuztepe is a tell, a man-made mound
rising 14 metres above 
the surrounding
farmland, created by people living in one place for hundreds of
years. At around 7,500-7,000 years old and 20 hectares in area, it
is the largest known Neolithic (stone age) settlement of its
time. The excavations are helping us understand how urban
societies might have begun.
The start of the dig season is busy. Huge
clouds of dust rise from the excavation areas as filled-in trenches
are re-emptied so work can begin.
A nearby village is also a flurry of activity
as our camp is set up. A deserted school is our workroom, where all
our finds will be cleaned and recorded. This is surrounded by tents
– home for the dig season. Everything must be taken out of storage
cleaned and set up. The last few members of the team arrive
and finally we are ready to begin.
Images (from top):
- Tents and the workroom in camp
- Dusty work – clearing backfill from trenches
ready to start work