bout de papier, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2011) — Fall/Winter 2011 // Automne/Hiver 2011, pp. 17–18
bout: Despite Hollywood films and the field’s somewhat romantic history, there are not that many professional archaeologists around. What prompted you to enter the profession?
Harrison: For a whole host of reasons. I spent much of my youth abroad, in the Philippines, where my parents were involved in social work with a Christian community. I grew up speaking Tagalog. In fact I recognized the cover photo on a recent issue of bout immediately (three nuns looking across Lake Taal): the other side is where I grew up as a child! When you are the product of two worlds, fascination with other cultures and their history is almost inevitable. The two intersect in the ancient Near East, which has been the cradle for so many of our cultural and spiritual traditions. So the leap to archaeology came almost naturally.
bout: You are a Bronze Age specialist, why?
Harrison: Because, for me, it is the most interesting phase of human social and cultural development. The Bronze Age was when humankind moved from stone tools to metal, when the first cities are established and the social and political systems needed for the creation of the nation-state first took root. It was when competition for resources and territorial control gave rise to organized warfare. Trade and migration became very important, and religious beliefs and ideology became major motivating factors in social conduct. Writing systems evolved significantly.
bout: Where does your field site, Tell Tayinat, fit in with all of this?
Harrison: Right in the middle. Tell Tayinat and its nearby sister site, Tell Atchana, sit on the Antioch Plain by the Orontes River. At their peak these towns had populations upwards of 5,000 to 10,000, and flourished between 3500 and 500 BCE. They were the seat for a succession of Bronze and Iron Age kingdoms, before eventually being succeeded by Antioch, which at its peak we are told, was surpassed only by Rome as the greatest city of the classical world. The archaeological record suggests that Tayinat and Atchana were important centres for the production and distribution of metal objects and other crafts, which found wide circulation throughout the ancient Near East.
The sister settlements were situated in what, in ancient times, formed a key intersection between the highland Indo-European cultures of Anatolia and the lowland Semitic populations of northwestern Syria and the Levant. In fact, it has become increasingly clear that Tayinat and Atchana were remarkably diverse multi-ethnic and multicultural communities, not unlike the region today, and a very long time before these concepts became prevalent here in Canada — there truly is little new under the sun! In the late second millennium BCE (the late Bronze Age, ca. 1500—1200 BCE) they were also on the periphery of Egyptian territory under the Pharaohs, and were caught in the fight for control of the region between the Hittites of central Anatolia and Ramses II, which led to one of the world’s first known international peace treaties — arguably formal diplomacy started here too.
The sites were first excavated in the 1930s, Tayinat by the University of Chicago, and Atchana by the famous British archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley. Some remarkable discoveries were made that now grace museums from Istanbul to Antakya (modern Antioch). These include a temple that has long been thought to be for a close parallel for the great temple of Jerusalem.
Work was interrupted by WWII; it was not until the late 80s that a new permit was issued. However, there were further complications — including the untimely passing of my mentor at the university for whom the new permit had been issued — further postponing the resumption of fresh fieldwork. Excavations finally resumed in 2004, and one of the great finds thus far has been a cache of cuneiform tablets (in Assyrian script), among which was another peace treaty, this one between one of the local rulers and the great Assyrian Imperial King, Esarhaddon.
DOUL: Fifty years to resume work?
HarriSON: It’s not as strange as it sounds. World events played a role, but major projects such as excavations also need sustained leadership. Sometimes personal circumstances work against the resumption of work. In my case, things worked out well. I had completed my doctoral studies and begun teaching at the University of Toronto when I was invited (“challenged”, might be the more accurate description!) by my colleague Aslihan Yener to resume excavations at Tayinat. To be honest, I had planned to start with something on a smaller scale, but I soon realized that I might not have another opportunity to work in Turkey; if I hoped to resume the work at Tayinat, it was then or never.
bout: Obtaining a permit is not a given, despite a strong professional reputation?
Harrison: Yes, it takes a lot of diplomacy, informal and formal, to receive authorization to proceed, and considerable effort to ensure that your license is renewed each year. A lot of cultural and political sensitivity is involved with archaeological projects.
I was quite fortunate. First, the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa was well-disposed to having the University of Toronto undertake the project. They welcomed the idea of a major Canadian and Turkish cultural undertaking. Second, the Canadian Embassy in Ankara was extremely helpful. Jean-Marc Duval, the Ambassador at the time, and his successor, Michael Leir, communicated with the Minister of Culture and his officials to underscore Canadian interest in seeing the project authorized, and the Public Affairs office at the Embassy has been consistently helpful ever since in troubleshooting. Very few permits for foreign expeditions have been issued over the past decade, and I am sure that the combined good will of both embassies made the project possible.
bout: What is next on your agenda for Tell Tayinat?
HarriSOn: We are working with Turkish colleagues and their universities to involve their students in the project so that we can train the next generation of archaeologists, transfer knowledge about the site, and share our enthusiasm for Tayinat with the people who will eventually be responsible for it.
That said, the preservation of the site involves a lot more than training a new generation of archaeologists. We recently received formal approval from the Cultural Ministry and local government authorities to establish an open air archaeological park. It will be designed to help protect the extraordinary cultural heritage preserved at Tayinat and Atchana, while rendering them more accessible to the broader public. The park’s facilities will include a visitor’s centre and museum, which will help to celebrate their cultural legacy and provide invaluable educational benefits, and a research centre equipped with a laboratory and artifact storage facilities. To support this undertaking, we have created the “Friends of Tayinat”, a charitable organization that seeks to raise the funds needed to help establish the park.
DOUL: Last thoughts?
Harrison: I am very privileged to head the largest bilateral cultural cooperation project between Canada and Turkey, but I hope others will follow suit. Turkey is a rising presence in the region and a growing economic power, and if my experience is anything to go by, building bridges early makes for a much privileged relationship in the longer term.
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2011) — Fall/Winter 2011 // Automne/Hiver 2011, pp. 17–18. Read the rest of this issue →
