Not only is 2023 the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, but it also marks 75 years since the founding of the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). Initially established as an archaeology institute, the BIAA is still an academic research institute but it now covers all Humanities subjects and funds British research in Türkiye as well as travel grants for Turkish scholars to visit the UK. Nevertheless, the BIAA archives continue to be important for researchers of western Anatolia, especially its extensive collections of photographs and squeezes (paper impressions taken from inscriptions), which are being made available via the BIAA Digital Repository.
The BIAA was founded by John Garstang, who had already established the Institute of Archaeology in Liverpool as Britain’s oldest archaeology department. Although Garstang never worked in western Anatolia himself, his work on the political geography of the Hittite world inspired one of the BIAA’s most significant excavations – at Beycesultan near Denizli. Although the excavators were disappointed in not finding the archives they had hoped for, the BIAA’s detailed publication of the stratigraphic excavations and pottery sequences from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age across four volumes means that Beycesultan remains the key ceramic type-site for prehistoric western Anatolia.
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British archaeological interest in Classical western Anatolia was different, indeed the largest (indeed only) British excavations in the Republic era were the joint Anglo-Turkish excavations at Old Smyrna which operated from the British School in Athens. Nevertheless, the BIAA has sponsored a wide range of innovative field surveys in the region, including the Madra Çay Delta survey and the Milesian Tales team’s current digital survey of Fethiye/Telmessos.
The BIAA continues to be a dynamic and agile research institute as well as a staunch advocate of Turkish-British cultural relations, for example quickly establishing eight Fellowships to support heritage conservation efforts in the aftermath of the terrible earthquakes of 6th February 2023. We wish the BIAA all the best for the next 75 years of academic partnership between the UK and Türkiye.
