Category: How can I support your work?

After such a successful 2012 field season, our thoughts are already on the future and our final digging season in 2013. During the months of October and November, we have a special fundraising event through an organization call the Big Give in which all your donations are doubled in value!

Our objectives for the 2013 excavation season include:

new investigations on the palace mound

probing a major building complex inside the city wall

excavation of an area of commoner housing

exploration of the lower levels of the administrative archive room

continued electrical resistivity survey

This is your opportunity to help support this work. Furthermore, thanks to a generous commitment from the UK, any donation made in October and November will be matched: give now and the value of your donation will be doubled! The work at Ziyaret Tepe is uncovering unique information on the ancient Assyrian empire which can be recovered in no other way. And this is the last chance! Please click HERE if you would like to help us in exploring this unique heritage.

There are a number of ways you can help us have a successful season at Ziyaret Tepe.

First of all, spread the word! Tell your friends and family about our blog and ask them to check out the action. One of the joys (and obligations) of the scientific community is to explain to non-experts what we are doing and why it is important and interesting. That is, after all, the goal of our blog.

A second way to help is to make a donation to the project. In the US, contributions are tax-deductable and 100% of your gift goes directly towards supporting our archaeological fieldwork. The easiest way to donate is to give an on-line credit card gift to the University of Akron, earmarked for the Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Expedition. Here’s a link to the University of Akron on-line giving website.

Scientific archaeology is expensive (workers, airfares, feeding twenty-five hungry archaeologists, etc.) and we pay the bills primarily through private donations, any amount helps. To give you idea of our costs, this year, our local workers will make 48 Turkish lira (= $30) per day, including their wages, social security, and taxes. So a $30 donation would sponsor one of our hardworking villagers for a day’s worth of excavation. $420 pays for our site guard for a week. $1800 just about covers an airfare from US to Diyarbakir, our nearest airport.

We appreciate your support, in whatever form it takes!