0.4 Remixing çatalhöyük: the public face of archaeology

The Public Face of Archaeology

How are archaeologists like—
and not like—Indiana Jones?

How is the Berkeley team (BACH) using digital technologies and the World Wide Web to make their process of investigation accessible to the public?

People have always been attracted to the unknown, and it is this curiosity that brings us where we are today, culturally and technologically. The monumental remains of past cultures adorn Hollywood films, television commercials, newspapers, magazines, and the World Wide Web. As in the popular Indiana Jones movies, mythology and archaeology serve as keys to unlock mysteries. In the real-world case of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the story of the past that appeals to the mainstream media are those that are luscious and rich, those that are connected to kings and queens. And, of course, the archaeologist is an adventurous hero, aiding the world by uncovering its lost civilizations.

Thankfully, with the aid of new information technologies and an increased awareness toward their outreach responsibilities, archaeologists are slowly but surely deconstructing preconceived ideas on archaeological practice. More than the popular view of the intrepid adventurer, archaeologists are in fact meticulous and patient researchers who work like forensic scientists to uncover and retrieve clues about the past. In order to understand the diverse sets of clues they unearth, archaeologists tend to specialize in certain materials and then work collaboratively to piece a story together. A single find, for example, may be analyzed by animal-bone specialists (zooarchaeologists), plant specialists (palaeoethnobotanists), earth-science specialists (geoarchaeologists), ceramics specialists, and the list goes on. This is the case at Çatalhöyük.

Unlike the agricultural landscape of Turkey where Çatalhöyük is located, most archaeological work takes place in familiar urban contexts, rather than in exotic or rural places. Many archaeologists work in Cultural Resource Management (CRM), which is basically the necessary documentation and protection of archaeological sites threatened with damage by development. Through television shows like the Time Team in the UK, and different educational and informational websites, archaeologists have been promoting the importance of seeing cultural heritage not just as monumental achievements, but also as the traces of ordinary people who once made up places, just as they make them up now. But why are personal histories important? How can people benefit from archaeological practice?