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CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGY ISSUE 39 MOSAIC
The issue in your hand tells the unique richness of this geography, the story of MOSAICS. The multi-color of the mosaics tells us the political, social and economic situation of the ancient world, the belief system of the societies, their values, cultural and social life with a colorful design.
(Dis)Interest in Cultural Heritage and the Colourful World of Mosaics
Until five years ago, or maybe a little earlier, archaeology was a subject that did not find much place in daily life. It could not enter the agenda of the entire social structure, whether interested or not. Afterwards, with the close interest and support of the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the period, there was a period when excited journalists were waiting for an explanation in front of archaeology and cultural heritage. Many segments of the society were either learning about an important artifact unearthed from an excavation or trying to learn the story of an artifact brought from abroad after a long effort. Of course, this interest ended with a change of duty, as it always does; because the interest was not public but personal, and when people changed, the old effect that was achieved also changed according to the level of interest. Today, two results of that effect emerged. The first; the hopeless wait that emerged among people working in the public sphere on the subject. A new period has begun in which things have lost their old excitement... The second was the formation of a conscious social structure that set itself tasks with the positive productivity created by the old energetic time. For example, the interest of some private schools in archaeological areas has increased. The educators who gathered their students and took them to Rome, this time began to explore places like Göbekli Tepe or Çatalhöyük. The students, with the support of their educators, began to prepare projects and seminars on archaeology. We were invited to some of these as a magazine and supported them as much as we could. This positive atmosphere was of course also reflected in archaeology-cultural tourism. Especially the people of this geography, who are defined as 'local tourists', have been so far removed from the historical values of their own geography and have been intimidated that, thanks to these tours, they have begun to love the archaeological and cultural heritage values of the country they live in as they learn about them and have concerns about their protection.
Well, couldn’t this interest and excitement be developed and sustained as a public policy? Couldn’t this interest be supported by the private sector by extending beyond the public sphere? Of course it could have been done, but it wasn’t. I would like to give an example of how the state or the public can show interest in their own cultural heritage. The gift a guest from the Netherlands who wanted to visit Anatolia brought was enough to show that nothing had been done in this geography with thousands of years of accumulation. The gift was chocolate covered with beautiful examples of Dutch medieval painting. The Netherlands had copied the paintings of world-renowned Rembrandt onto chocolate containers and was introducing him to the world. So, how do you think we introduce Aizonai, Pergamon, Perge, Side, or Phrygia, Hittite, Lycia, Caria, Urartu, Byzantium? Of course we can’t or don’t introduce them. The only effort being made is to sell sea, sun and sand tourism to tourists who will stay in closed hotels, thus only making hotel owners earn more and creating the challenge of building hotels on top of all the archaeological sites...
The issue in your hands tells the story of the unique richness of this geography, the MOSAICS. This special issue, which emerged as the idea of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Birol Can from Atatürk University, was planned and designed under his direction, tells us the multi-colored political, social and economic situation of the ancient world, the belief system of societies, their values, cultural and social life with a colorful design.
Have a nice read!
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