Building 1 gets a roof

Continuing from last week’s blog post, we can now report that Replica building 1 is almost complete. Having dried in the hot summer sun for 2 days, Abdullah Usta and team (see main image) added the roof beams and wall plaster before adding the reed roof. The gallery shows the next phase in construction.

Attempting to build a replica building poses many questions, as ideas about ancient architecture are turned into bricks and mortar. Our biggest problem has been developing a roof that would stand up to the Anatolian weather. The solution in this case has come from using the archaeological data we have on roof construction at BK – which is scant – with ethnographic information, insights from construction at Aşıklı Höyük and the knowledge of our local building team. Using long poplar poles as supports, we began the roof with reed matting, which we think was used in roof construction from remains found in Building 20. Then layers of reed and mud have been built up to, ending with a layer of mud. A small hole has been cut in the roof to allow smoke from the fires to escape – erosion holes around the hearths in the ancient buildings suggest that smoke holes were over the fires. The overall effect is similar to traditional mudbrick construction seen in the Konya region today, but with a much thinner roof. We are interested to see how it stands up to the coming winter and may use the experience to experiment with other roof designs in future years.

Plastering is also almost complete, with the inner and outer walls, plus the floor, now covered. Inside the building we have replicated the two-part division of the floor into dirty and clean areas and put in place a small hearth beneath the smoke hole. The building is in fact very pleasant to sit in on a hot day and we suspect will stand up well to the winter weather.

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