I read with great interest this article in Smithsonian Magazine, “Seeds of Conflict.” It’s about the British Institute’s collection of ancient seeds gathered from archaeological sites and landscapes in Turkey. And also, of the recent confiscation of the whole collection by the Turkish government of Erdogan.
A Profoundly Valuable Ancient Seeds Collection
The Institute named the collection after its creator, George Hillman. From the article:
“Hillman became best known for his seed collection, which allowed two generations of scholars to gain insight into ancient farming. Between 1969 and 1975, Hillman gathered carbonized grains at the Neolithic settlements of Asvan and Can Hasan, and also retrieved modern seeds—both wild and domesticated—in surrounding villages and in the countryside. He picked up samples in fragile environments that no longer exist, plucking wild emmer and einkorn wheat, for example, in a region of lakes, swamps and meadows in the southeast Konya Plain that have since dried up and disappeared. The vast variety of seeds he gathered presented a near-complete picture of ancient diets in Anatolia.”
An Arrogant Act
The Turkish government acted with the prodding of Ibrahim Saracoglu, a TV personality with dubious pseudo-scientific notions. He and the first lady declared the ancient seeds collection the property of the government. They see it as a potential source for ending future hunger. Supposedly, they believe they can recreate some ancient grains resistant to modern diseases from the carbonized remains.
Saracoglu’s goals and their scientific underpinnings are suspect, although some advances are theoretically possible. Most problematic to me are the boastful, belligerent hauling away of the entire collection and closure of access to this key seed bank to the paleobotanists who had been using it. If the Turkish government had useful scientific purposes, they could have accessed the needed seeds without wholesale confiscation.
The History of Archaeology in Turkey
Lurking underneath all of this are the larger questions that haunt so many archaeological finds across the ancient Near East. Who has the right to own and control finds? Do the patronizing attitudes of the past by British, German, and American researchers (among others) mean that all the collections they gathered are suspect? Moreover, should archaeologists turn old finds over to the governments where they were excavated or collected? Who best can preserve and curate the artifacts of the past? No easy or one-size-fits-all answers.
From the article:
“…Hodder says Turkey is responding to the historic tendency of British and American archaeology authorities to “treat the Middle East as a playground to discover our origins. And I do feel culpable in that sense. I feel that that’s a negative.” He describes the West’s attitude as “a form of Orientalism,” using a term popularized by the late Arab-American academic Edward Said that connotes paternalism and exploitation.”
One of the fascinating portions of the article discusses the hugely important archaeological find of Catalhoyuk by British James Mellaart. This site was one of the earliest human settlements, and the monumental dig gave rise to the now expansive study of Turkey’s remote past. However, the article goes on to describe Mellaart’s fall from grace, accusations of fraud, and ban from working in Turkey.
So this current conflict inherits and builds on a mess of complicated history, science both bad and legitimate, good intentions and serious misunderstandings, authoritarian inclinations, and unfortunate egos.
Recommended Reading
For presenting this complexity in a clear and engaging way, the article in Smithsonian, “Seeds of Conflict”, deserves a read, especially if you are intrigued by archaeology in Turkey today.
Here for another post about Neolithic air pollution experiments at Catalhoyuk.