Safeguarding Archaeological Assets in Turkey (SARAT)

The SARAT project was formed to build capacity and raise awareness concerning the safeguarding of archaeological assets in Turkey. This has been realised through three central aims: to provide emergency training for the protection of archaeological assets; to map public perceptions of heritage and the value it holds in Turkey; to raise awareness through activities with journalists and private collectors of the damage that the looting of archaeological sites causes.

SARAT’s aim has been to contribute to the protection of Turkey’s archaeological assets with human-oriented capacity and awareness-raising approaches.

Our activities

Our activities, shaped within the framework of the goal of protection, are summarized below:

• To understand the relationship that society has established with archeology and the archaeological heritage of the country in which it lives, and to generate new ideas for the development of this relationship,
• Raising social awareness for the protection of archaeological assets and explaining that protection can be achieved not only by institutions but also by large segments of society,
• Increasing the professional capacity and equipment of professionals working in the field of archeology and cultural heritage with the help of online courses and workshops,
• Increasing the knowledge on risk management against emergencies that may occur in museums that house Turkey’s vast archaeological accumulation,
• Improving the professional tools and awareness of journalists on the subject in order to increase the knowledge and quality in the writing of archaeology news,
• Explaining the damage caused by illegal excavation and treasure hunting and smuggling of archaeological artifacts in Turkey to the integrity of archaeological assets and data, and studies carried out in this context.

What are we safeguarding and why?

The geography of the Middle East in general and Turkey in particular harbour extraordinary material evidence of humanity’s journey towards civilisation. This evidence ranges from the earliest villages and cities to the first states and empires. All of today’s megalopolises, complexities of social life, specialisation through the division of labour, and industrial and technological capabilities are the products of a step-by-step process of filtering and handing down the achievements of previous civilisations. The first plough, the first wheel-made pottery, the first inscribed clay tablet, and the first minted coin were all among the landmarks of this amazing adventure of humanity that reached to the digital age of the 21st century.

Sometimes however it may be hard to realise what stone, earth, and mudbrick are telling us about how we arrived at today’s megalopolises from prehistoric villages like the one at Çayönü and the earliest temples like the one at Göbeklitepe. Over the millennia, the archaeological heritage of all humanity has suffered: sometimes from natural disasters and from treasure-hunters and looters, sometimes from the spread of cities and farming, and sometimes from just lack of interest. To many people nowadays, antiquities are just “merchandise” and archaeological sites are just “boring ruins”.

How are we safeguarding it?

Protecting this heritage against both natural and human threats requires more than the efforts of experts and institutions: it’s possible only by increasing public awareness of the problem and making across-the-board changes in public attitudes.

That is exactly why SARAT makes a comprehensive effort to connect with audiences ranging from professionals to administrators and from media organizations to collectors in order both to raise public awareness about archaeological assets in Turkey and to build capacity among archaeology-concerned professional groups.

This is because archaeology touches upon and nourishes so many different areas that awareness in them all can be created only through joint action that takes a multidimensional point of view: the knowledge of an archaeologist or museum administrator may rescue archaeological assets that are thousands of years old; the commitment of a journalist may correct nonsense in people’s minds about imagined mysteries of the past; a change of attitude in a collector may prevent an antiquity from changing hands illegally. It is only through widespread and genuine public awareness that archaeological assets can be safeguarded against harm and loss.