| Entry: | Diary of Peter Moore Aged 34¾ at Catalhoyuk
I’ve worked here for 2 weeks mostly on site but also on trying to help with the shoring and roof/ My current background is in British commercial archaeology which for lots of reasons does not have on site specialists, only specialists visiting on request and undertaking specified work on request. I have worked on research projects abroad where by necessity (where material cannot be exported) most specialists took part in the project abroad. This entailed weekly visits by them to the site for the weekly site tour. I cannot remember if the field staff received a reciprocal lab visit. I do however remember the lab staff being excused household cleaning duties! It makes a great difference to both field and lab specialists when they are of sufficient experience (and age) to be able to interact and benefit from their experience.
I have obviously heard lots about, read lots about and seen those photographs (Richard!) of this project but the experience was different. I was there for 2 priority tours and several mini visits and enjoyed being asked as apart of the digging team what I wanted prioritised in terms of getting information which I thought important. Unfortunately I did not have the deposits which warranted such attention. I would now recommend that the hearth fill in the southern end of space 173 be looked at in terms of food or other preparation. I wonder at the term "antichamber", as a multidivided room with specific functions should not be down graded in status terms. The term antichamber in our minds comes from the Medieval hall which then was added to with a succession of chambers whose function was to separate the house owner from visitors by their status. In Building 6 the rooms may be of different size but this may be as a result of function not status.
I’ve heard lots about the recording methods and how they come about and are adjusted. I am rusty at recording site paperwork I know. Even so I found in 2 weeks the paperwork laborious to undertake and felt that I was digging too slowly as a result. However I know that there can never be too good a housekeeping methodology for tracking and using data as lost artefacts or samples or data is a complete waste of time. I enjoyed using the concept of the interface between deposits (surface treatment) as something to be considered. The independent recording of features as a whole, while still recording the component units was extraordinary = previous feature recording has solely been instigated by people without any concept of stratigraphy in my experience = at first I could not see the need for such replication. However the complexity of the archaeology and the potential for understanding and interpreting features here has shown me a useful tool
Thanks to everyone here for making my visit and work so enjoyable.
Yours Peter.Entered By: Peter Moore |
