Ethics and Archaeology: The Attempt at Çatalhöyük

Archaeologists typically ask questions sanctioned solely by the scientific community or donors. Can research agendas take into account the interests of a wide variety of other groups that are also "stakeholders"? "Yes" argues Ian Hodder who shows how it was accomplished with four distinct communities involved with Çatalhöyük, the famous nine-thousand-year-old site in central Turkey. Politicians are interested in questions of origins and identities. Local communities are interested in why their particular locality was chosen for settlement. Goddess groups that visit the site are interested in the role of women. Various types of artist are interested in performing or representing the site. Hodder demonstrates how archaeology can and should dialogue with such interests.