Welcome to the British Institute at Ankara
The British Institute at Ankara supports, enables and encourages research in Turkey and the Black Sea region in a wide range of fields including archaeology, ancient and modern history, heritage management, social sciences and contemporary issues in public policy and political sciences. Founded in 1948, the BIAA was incorporated in the 1956 cultural agreement between the Republic of Turkey and the United Kingdom. The BIAA is one of the British International Research Institutes (BIRI). It has offices in Ankara and London, and a dedicated staff of experts from a wide variety of academic and cultural backgrounds.
Visit the Research Resource Centre of the BIAA. Search or browse our extensive library collection of more than 58,000 records of books, pamphlets, theses, maps and journals, or explore our photo archive and artefact collections of fauna, ceramics, Roman milestone squeezes and much more.
A major exhibition about the Neolithic site is coming to the Brunei Gallery, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
SARAT stands for “Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey”. The project’s goal is to increase knowledge, capacity, and awareness about protecting Turkey’s archaeological assets.
On Monday 24th September, members and guests of the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) and the British Association of Turkish Area Studies (BATAS) gathered at St. Antony’s College in Oxford for the third conference in the From Enemies to Allies series.
Articles following two BIAA conferences are published.
BIAA-funded research at the Başur Höyük site has revealed evidence of complex burial practices in the third millennium BC.
LECTURE: Women and Public Space in Turkey
24 October 2018 19:00 to 21:00 | Ankara
A BIAA lecture by Selda Tuncer (Assistant Professor of Sociology at Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van) Discussant: Güven Arif Sargın (Professor, Department of Architecture, Middle East Technical University) Summary of Event: How and in what ways do women participate in public life? What are the narratives that shape women’s experience of public space? In this…
LECTURE: Archaeologists and Treasure Hunters on the Tigris
06 November 2018 18:30 to 20:30 | London
When British Consul-General and explorer J. G. Taylor surveyed the remains of Arzan in the province of Batman, he stumbled upon something remarkable - treasure littering its ancient streets: “So many medals of gold and silver are found here that the fellahs who till the ground are paid nothing by the owner…and they give him in addition half of what they may find.” That was…
BIAA SUPPPORTED CONFERENCE: Remembering Keban after 50 years
09 November 2018 09:30 to 18:00 | Ankara
Speakers: Mehmet Özdoğan; Cevat Erder; Laurent Dissard; Nezih Başgelen; Işın Yalçınkaya; Ayla Ödekan; Ayşe Haznedar Özkan; Ömür Bakırer; Turan Birgili; Ayşıl Yavuz; Sevil Gülçur; Numan Tuna; Halis Akder Summary of Event: The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 also marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Keban Salvage Project,…
LECTURE: Rethinking Gender and Travel Writing
28 November 2018 19:00 to 21:00 | Ankara
A BIAA Lecture by Peter Cherry (Assistant Professor in the Department of Turkish Literature at Bilkent University - BIAA postdoctoral Fellow 2017-18. Discussant: Şima İmşir (Assistant Professor, Istanbul Şehir University) Summary of Event: In scholarship on the literary commerce between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, the voices of women writers have traditionally been marginalised.…
LECTURE: Metals made the world go round
12 December 2018 19:00 to 21:00 | Ankara
A BIAA Lecture by Dr Michele Massa, Research Associate, Middle East Technical University Summary of Event: This lecture will present the preliminary results of a 3-year project sponsored by the BIAA, dedicated to shed light on dynamics of metal extraction, refinement, manufacture and exchange in the western Anatolian Bronze Age (ca 3500-1200 BC). It will explore how and when…
Research
Archaeology Related Disciplines
History, Social & Political Sciences
Cultural Heritage Management
Examining human-environment interactions in pre-historic Anatolia thro…
This project, undertaken by Dr. Benjamine Irvine (BIAA postdoctoral Fellow 2018-20) examines human and animal mobility in 3rd millennium BC Anatolia and the interaction between movement and other…
Divisions, Connections and Movement – Rethinking Regionality
A project aimed at fostering a cross-discpilinary exchange for the study of the movement of people, things and ideas in Turkey and the wider region from the Paleolithic era until today.
Çaltılar Survey
The Çaltılar survey project was concerned with northern Lycia during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, specifically its settlement history and material culture. …
Boncuklu Excavations
The project aims to understand the appearance and trajectory of sedentary, cultivating, and herding communities in central Anatolia, investing also in Cultural heritage management.
Göksu Archaeological Project
The project aimed at examining the area between Mut and Karaman that was threatened with flooding by the construction of the Mut dam. …
Çatalhöyük Excavations, 1993-2017
Under the direction of Ian Hodder with multiple international teams working side by side the project aims to discover as much as possible about the Çatalhöyük site as a…
Kerkenes Dağ Survey and Excavations
Beginning in 1993 the BIAA has collaborated in work at the significant Iron Age site of Kerkenes Dağ. …
Amorium Excavations
Beginning in 1987, excavation work at Amorium (Afyonkarahisar Province) represents on of the longest-running British archaeological projects in Turkey. …
Pisidia Survey Project
A regional project launched in 1982 with the aim to record monuments, inscriptions and other identifiable surface remains of the Classical and Postclassical period.
Can Hasan Excavations
Excavations took place between 1961 and 1970 contributinged (along with Çatalhöyük) to a more complete stratigraphic sequence for the Konya Plain.
Polatlı Excavations
The Polatlı excavations were directed by Seton Lloyd and Nuri Gökçe in 1951. The work comprised a new investigation into third and second millennium stratigraphy in Anatolia.
War, Art, and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 1912-1923
This project, undertaken by Dr. Gizem Tongo (BIAA postdoctoral Fellow 2018-20) focuses on the Ottoman art world in the final years of the empire and explores how wars and the occupation changed t…
Writing Turkey in British Literary and Travel Narratives (1914-1945)
This project, undertaken by Peter Cherry (BIAA postdoctoral Fellow) asks how British literary and travel texts engage with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the socio-political transformati…
The history and culture of Turkish football
The research project aims at exploring the history and culture of Turkish football, with specific attention to the game’s role as a dynamic site of cultural heritage. …
Climate Responsive Urban Design in the context of Black Sea Climate
The project focuses on the way(s) which the formation of urban built environment responds to the local climatic conditions in the Black Sea littoral region.
Turkey and Britain 1914-1952: from Enemies to Allies
The project explores the relationship between Turkey and Britain from the First World War to Turkey’s entry into NATO in 1952.
Britain’s Levantine Empire, 1914-1923
The project explores the wartime itineraries of hundreds of thousands of British military personnel produced as new forms of colonial rule and imagined geographies of the Levant.
Divisions, Connections and Movement – Rethinking Regionality
A project aimed at fostering a cross-discpilinary exchange for the study of the movement of people, things and ideas in Turkey and the wider region from the Paleolithic era until today.
Balkan Futures
Balkan Futures examined inter-regional development and cooperation in south-eastern Europe during a period of crisis rather than consolidation within the EU.
Genealogies of rapprochement at the Aegean borders
This project aimed at unearthing the role of civil society in the rapprochement process between Greece and Turkey (1974-2010).
Islamic Fashion, Economy and Morality in Modern Turkey
The research project focused on a less-explored component of Islamic fashion, that is, on the design and production of commodified forms of religious appearance.
Study of Trade between the Ottoman Empire and Southeast Asia
A project exploring the relations between Ottoman and early Republican Turkey and the southeast Asian Muslim states.
Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey (SARAT)
This project aims to build capacity and raise awareness for safeguarding archaeological assets in Turkey.
Living Amid the Ruins: Archaeological Sites as Hubs of Sustainable Dev…
Part of the research leg of the BIAA’s on-going cultural heritage management projects, LAR offers an innovate approach to the use of archaeological heritage in SW Turkey.
Pisidia Cultural Heritage Management Project
The project builds on results of the Pisidia Archaeological Survey Project and focuses on the creation of a regional cultural heritage management plan for Pisidia.
Aspendos Cultural Heritage Management Project
A joint CHM project (BIAA & Hacettepe University) that built on results of the Aspendos Archaeological Project.
Boncuklu Excavations
The project aims to understand the appearance and trajectory of sedentary, cultivating, and herding communities in central Anatolia, investing also in Cultural heritage management.
Çatalhöyük Village Ethno-Archaeology Project
A project for studying Çatalhöyük and the nearby village of Küçükköy as the research sites combining anthropology and archaology.
Study of Turkish Carpet Production
In 1963 and 1964 May Hamilton and Colin Beattie travelled across Anatolia in an exploration of the Turkish carpet industry.
Restoration of the Church of Saint Sophia at Trabzon
Through this project active between 1957 and 1962. Paintings, frescoes, and other architectural elements were cleaned, restored, and preserved to the extent possible.
