We may reasonably expect that the pandemic is going to end, but the climate changes are getting more and more menacing and we see our planet exhausted by human actions.
As a contribution to society at large, Bilkent University has declared the 2021-22 Academic Year the “Year of Sustainability,” with a focus on sustainability and climate change. As a department of archaeology, we feel much concerned by change and sustainability, the very essences of our field, and we have decided to dedicate our Bilkent Archaeology Day to them. Our colloquium this year is entitled The Environmental Challenge: Views and Lessons from Antiquity.
How has the environment been exploited since the first settlements? How has it been preserved, or ruined? How have the occupants of different periods and different geographical areas adapted to the landscape where they live? How have their actions have shaped it, positively or negatively? Such questions will be explored in our colloquium.
Bilkent Archaeology Day has been a yearly event since April 2018. We missed one year, due the pandemic, but we resumed our meeting last year. As always, the morning program has been organized by the Archaeology Club of Bilkent University on the same topic. This year, speakers are students from Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, and Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, as well as from Bilkent University.
Our afternoon program is organized by the Department of Archaeology, with the participation of scholars not only from Bilkent, but also from Edinburgh, Groningen, Chicago, and Jerusalem. They will present their current research, which may help us to understand better the present landscape of Anatolia and provide some keys for its sustainability.
We hope these presentations on landscape and sustainability in Antiquity will be a source of inspiration for further research. The challenge to preserve our environment requires ongoing investigations and firm commitment.
Date: 8 April 2022, 1:30PM
Registration: bilkentarkeo@gmail.com