Last November, a BIAA team visited the village of Geldibuldu (Adıyaman) to share the project and gather perspectives from local communities.
Lost Villages of the Upper Euphrates is a two-year project that aims to digitise and make openly accessible approximately 2,400 slides from ethnographic work conducted between 1970 and 1990 in the Upper Euphrates region of southeast Türkiye. Funded by the Modern Endangered Archives Program, the project has so far published 1,000 slides, available via the UCLA Library Digital Repository.
While the digitisation work continues, the team has also been concentrating on public outreach. In November, project leader Dr Nurdan Atalan Çayırezmez (BIAA Digital Repository Office Manager), Göksel Keysan and Deniz Çit (BIAA Digital Archivists) visited a series of villages in Adıyaman province, in particular Geldibuldu near the lost village and site of Tille Höyük, to raise awareness of the project among local communities. During the visit, the BIAA team also aimed to gather information on the current state of documented areas and to enrich catalogue data through personal stories.
The visit and interviews allowed the team to gain an understanding of the village’s past while also experiencing firsthand the community’s attachment to its cultural heritage. About the experience, Dr Atalan Çayırezmez noted that “We observed the profound significance that the photographs held for them. Many were reunited with images of lost loved ones, and some even came to know people they had never met through the stories. This experience reminded us that archives are not merely repositories of information but also bridges that preserve memories and emotions.”
Dr Atalan Çayırezmez then added: “We would like to express our gratitude to the Adıyaman Governorate, the Adıyaman Culture and Tourism Directorate, and the Adıyaman Museum Directorate, who supported our visit and invited us to discuss the activities and results of the project.”
Geldibuldu is located near the site of Tille Höyük, excavated between 1979 and 1990 by the late BIAA Director David French and now submerged. Digital materials about Tille are available in the BIAA Digital Repository, while a discussion of the region’s archaeology can be found in a recently released episode of the Heritage Türkiye Podcast, featuring Dr Stuart Blaylock.