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 1947, 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 collection of more than 65,000 books, pamphlets, theses, maps and journals, or explore our photo archive and collections of fauna, ceramics, Roman milestone squeezes and much more.
Two BIAA-funded research projects, at Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük, have provided vital ancient genome data combined with burial location evidence demonstrating that kinship traditions of ancient Anatolian civilisations went beyond genetic relations.
(This article contains images of human remains)
Classical Archaeology has recently lost another giant figure: Prof Marc Waelkens. He introduced his own student, Lutgarde Vandeput, to work in Turkey, who is now the BIAA Director. After a life of extraordinary achievement and productivity, he will be sorely missed.
Shahina Farid recently stepped down from her six-year term as Honorary Secretary of the BIAA. To show our gratitude for her service to the Institute, Shahina was the first to receive honorary life membership at the BIAA. We asked Shahina to reflect on the highlights of her archaeological career, advice for fellow archaeologists, her contributions and experience at the BIAA, and plans for the future!
With great sadness, the BIAA notes the death of the eminent Byzantinist Cyril Mango. His research spanned all aspects of Byzantine Studies, and his linguistic skills ensured an unrivalled command of the subject’s range of sources. However, his enduring legacy will be his studies of his native city, to be crowned by a forthcoming magnum opus on the urban development of Byzantine Constantinople.
The BIAA is sad to report the death of a long-standing member, David Barchard on 25th December. He was one of the UK’s most knowledgeable and respected authorities on Turkey, who was for a time a BIAA Council member and a valued, critical friend of the Institute since the 1970s. We send our condolences to his family and innumerable friends in Turkey, the UK and beyond.
ONLINE PANEL: The Turkey – UK – USA relationship in the Biden Presidency
15 April 2021 17:00 to 19:00 | Online
A BIAA Online Panel with Ünal Çevikoz (Turkish Ambassador to the UK 2010-2014), Nicholas Danforth (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy), John Goulden (former UK Ambassador to Turkey and permanent representative to NATO), Ziya Meral (Royal United Services Institute), and Chair: David Logan (BIAA Vice-President). Thursday 15th…
ONLINE LECTURE: Bodies, Bronze, and Başur: What the dead have to say about it
26 April 2021 17:00 to 18:30 | Online
A BIAA Online Lecture by Brenna Hassett (Institute of Archaeology, UCL) Monday 26th April 2021 | 17:00-18:30 (London UTC+1) | 19:00-20:30 (Ankara UTC+3) | Online Physical anthropology at the site of Başur Höyük near modern-day Siirt in the Upper Tigris region allows fascinating insights into the Mesopotamian sphere of influence at the crux of the transition to the 3rd…
The Abandoned 19th-20th c. Rural Architectural Heritage of Ayvalık
04 May 2021 19:00 to 20:30 | Online
A BIAA Online Lecture with Hasan Sercan Sağlam (Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations - ANAMED). Tuesday 4th May 2021 | 17:00-18:30 (London UTC+1) | 19:00-20:30 (Ankara UTC+3) | Online This lecture focuses on the forgotten rural buildings that remained from the former Greek community of Ayvalık, which thrived during the late Ottoman…
The Martyrdom of Konon of Bidana: How the Patron of the Isaurians was Made
11 May 2021 17:00 to 18:30 | Online
An Anatolian Studies Virtual Seminar with Philipp Pilhofer (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Tuesday 11th May 2021 | 17:00-18:30 (London UTC+1) | 19:00-20:30 (Ankara UTC+3) | Online This seminar focuses on a local martyr from a village close to Isaura in the Taurus mountains: Konon of Bidana. The Martyrdom of Konon is a late antique Greek hagiographical…
Public Perceptions of the Other's Heritage: Ottoman Heritage in Greece
08 June 2021 19:00 to 20:30 | Online
A BIAA Online Lecture with Hakan Tarhan (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca). Tuesday 30th March 2021 | 17:00-18:30 (London UTC+1) | 19:00-20:30 (Ankara UTC+3) | Online One of the most common practices among nation-states is using the past and cultural heritage as a nation-building tool by developing national discourses that glorify a shared and owned national heritage…
Frankish Gravestones in the Eastern Aegean from the Medieval Period
15 June 2021 17:00 to 18:30 | Online
An Anatolian Studies Virtual Seminar with Ergün Laflı (Dokuz Eylül University), Maurizio Buora (Società Friuliana di Archeologia), and assisted by Denys Pringle (Cardiff University). Tuesday 15th June 2021 | 17:00-18:30 (London UTC+1) | 19:00-20:30 (Ankara UTC+3) | Online This seminar presents and discusses mainly four Latin tombstones relating to…
Research
Archaeology and Related Disciplines
History, Politics and Social Sciences
Cultural Heritage Management
Examining Human-Environment Interactions in Prehistoric Anatolia throu…
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
This project aimed at fostering 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
This 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
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 one of the longest-running British archaeological projects in Turkey. …
Pisidia Survey Project
A regional project launched in 1982 with the aim of recording monuments, inscriptions and other identifiable surface remains of the Classical and Postclassical period.
Can Hasan Excavations
Excavations, which took place between 1961 and 1970, contributed (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 war and the occupation changed the…
Writing Turkey in British Literary and Travel Narratives (1914-1945)
This project asks how British literary and travel texts engage with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the socio-political transformations of early Republican-era Turkey.
The History and Culture of Turkish Football
This 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 the Black Sea Climat…
This project focused on the ways in which the formation of the urban built environment responded to local climatic conditions in the Black Sea littoral region.
Turkey and Britain 1914-1952: From Enemies to Allies
This 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
This project explores how the wartime itineraries of hundreds of thousands of British military personnel produced new forms of colonial rule spanning the eastern Mediterranean and an imagined geograph…
Divisions, Connections and Movement – Rethinking Regionality
This project aimed at fostering 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 increase knowledge, capacity and awareness regarding the protection of Turkey's archaeological assets.
Living Amid the Ruins: Archaeological Sites as Hubs of Sustainable Dev…
Part of the research arm of the BIAA’s ongoing cultural heritage management umbrella project, Living Amid the Ruins (LAR) offers an innovative approach to the use of archaeological heritage in s…
Pisidia Cultural Heritage Management Project
This project builds on the 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
This 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 research sites combining anthropology and archaeology.
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.
