Archaeology without Ottoman Past: Historical Archaeology in Turkey

Summary

Archaeology can be recognised as a modern preoccupation with our own past worlds in order to write a history of the present. Discursive formations of archaeology have been constructed by political powers and their cultural-academic institutions. Political powers present their desire to discover a meaning in history through their epistemological shifts by refusing previous or alternative powers. Each epistemological mutation of discourses in these constructions has been produced by addressing the indispensability of their knowledge as a part of their political and social agendas. I want to address the question as to how political changes in Turkey our reflected in historical archaeology. This paper will address these matters with reference to academic and cultural institutions in Turkey. Why historical archaeology hasn’t constructed as a sub-discipline in archaeology in Turkey and its relations with modern cultural and historical paradigms through nationalism will be discussed in the paper.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Enfants de la patrie: Historical Archaeologies of National Identity and Nationalism   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-42,09