Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Some Aspects of BTC PIPELINE
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Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
A few years ago the first sign of a change in Turkish archaeology policy came to light. In the framework of the applications to the European Union (EU) for membership, the Turkish Republic is adapting to European standards and regulations in cultural heritage manage-ment too.
Archaeological fieldwork used to be only a pleasant midsummer activity for university professors with students and museum staff. Now the first change to a more professional and commercial approach took place.
The work for such projects is temporary; the archaeologist is only needed during the digging of the trench. So no career possibilities, although it might prove to be a good entry on the personal CV.
The BTC pipeline is one of these occasions where the European standards and regulations are applied.
Laying out a pipe over thousands of kilometers was in the past just a matter of
Fig. 1 The endless trace of the pipeline: topsoil removed in the snow Photo Cüneyt Gören
machines digging a long trench, placing the pipe and refilling it again: these days are over now.
Regulations: blessing or curse?
Digging the trench has provided probably more work (man-hours) for office workers in the form of paperwork, regulations and limitations than it gives man-hours for the field-teams. This is a tendency known from Europe where my archaeological friends complain about these endless memos and directions that mean special managers are needed to understand the jargon and the context of the directions.
BTC Archaeology
The BTC project is directed by BOTAŞ (Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma A.Ş.), the Turkish organization for oil transportation and pipelines.
The part-time archaeologist works for a subcontractor who works in one of the 3 sections, called ‘lots’, that cross Turkey.
The sudden need for archaeologists proved some cause of worry in the starting period of the BTC pipeline project. The reality is that most graduated students can’t find employment in the settled archaeology system. The only places they could find work in their field was as a museum employee, in a museum waiting to reach retirement age, while reading the daily newspaper and drinking tea.
The second option was to find an academic job in one of the universities but the available ‘slots’ are scarce and a person’s qualities are not always the most important reason to get the job. Most of these newly graduated archaeologists drifted off to other professions and were lost to the field forever. Archaeology in the construction sphere, known as “contract archaeology” opens a new employment opportunity. So a new era for these enthusiastic graduated young archaeo-logists was welcomed.
The contract archaeologist
Contract employees, inclu-ding archaeologists, can’t go to the field before they have followed a number of courses and passed some tests.
The first is of course a medical test to see if the new employee is fit to work, then a driving test. Not only does the employee need to have a driving license; also she/he must be able to do some four-wheel cross-country work.
An environment manage-ment course teaches the fieldworker that the ‘Three Striped Blue Spiral-Headed Viper’ is allowed to bite and kill you but that it is not to be disturbed or removed from the scene (read: smashed to death).
Fig. 2 A minor important find: old ammunition, the pipe crosses WW I battle fields
The ‘Double Crowned Mountain Daisy’ has to be dug out and replanted during the work. After the remodeling of the landscape the flower is to be replaced in the same spot.
Fig. 3 The taped off area where some finds appeared
Changing machine oil and collecting the old oil into a container instead of letting it run into the soil, where it might influence the drinking water, are of course more obvious regulations.
The workers get special protective clothes in bright colors so the drivers of the machines can see them easily. A hard hat has to be used at any time in the field and steel toes protect the feet in the boots. (That will surprise the TSBSH-viper!)
Lessons in how to use the communication systems and First Aid are also useful.
Bilkent’s Department of Archaeology provided in the last year 5 monitors who worked at 3 different locations. They work for the subcontractor, in this case Tepe-Nacap a Turkish – Dutch cooperation.
Each of these Lot archaeologists is responsible for monitoring the bulldozing of the topsoil in her/his stretch. Also, when test pits are dug to test the ground the Archaeological Inspector has to be present.
If finds of any importance appear the monitor has to inform the next level of archaeological respon-sibility: the BOTAŞ Archaeologist. If the find is classified as “important,” the work is stopped and the place marked by tape and sticks. The machines will then skip the location of the archaeological find, so that it can receive proper attention.
The site will be documented by the monitor: digital photos are taken with north arrows and scales while a GPS reading will tell where in this totally empty surrounding this site is located.
Now the fun is over for the Lot archaeologist because the monitor has to follow the machines, while the Botaş archaeologist organizes the more precise documentation and the removal of the finds.
This system doesn’t work always perfectly as one might expect and sometimes
finds are collected by the monitor.
Attention is given not only to the few meter wide strip of soil for the pipe, but also to the wider surroundings. Places of archaeological or historical interest are visited and documented.
Not many important finds have appeared during the digging since here large mountainous areas are involved, where nobody in the past, present or future wants to live. The harsh weather conditions make this part of Turkey a bad place to be (especially in winter), with deep snow and
Fig. 4 One of the vessels from the burial
Fig. 5 The photo documentation
temperatures going down to minus 30° C. But a most interesting find was made by one of the Bilkent appointed monitors when the machine cut through a burial, which contained several complete ceramic vessels.
The monitors are stationed for many months out in the field where they live in camps and sometimes in hotels near the construction site. They report weekly to Botaş and our department, while they are in daily contact with the rest of the Tepe-Nacap team.
Fig. 6 Some burials
The fact that the monitors work and live in these conditions with kilometers of empty pipe trench, and nothing else of interest, in very warm sunny weather and in very cold freezing conditions will make them valuable professionals for the future!
B. Claasz Coockson
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