Friday 8th August saw the first Visitor Open Day for several years at Boncuklu. Organised by Steve Chaddock and Gökhan Mustafaoğlu, over 80 visitors from Hayıroğlu came to site to find out about the latest developments in the project. Starting in the visitor centre, site guards Mustafa Güven (above) and Kazım Güven, helped by Gökhan and Turkish excavator Cihan Baltepe, guided our guests through the sample processing area, current excavation trenches and a display in our shelter which included the heavy residue sorting process and artefacts from the dig.
The children in attendance received copies of our new booklet “Forager to farmers” (see earlier blog post and free pdf download in the “Education Materials” page of this website) and, with Lucy, Courtney and Jessica, made clay figurines and bead necklaces – the motif of our dig at the “beady-mound” – and did some colouring in of cartoons by Peter Carnavas (see below). Refreshments were enjoyed by all and we are now looking forward to a second Visitor Open Day for other villages in the region scheduled for September.
BK team with village children on Open Day
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