Field archaeology and foreign assistance during the decade of development in Iran and Turkey

ABSTRACTDuring the 1960s, the scope of field archaeology in the Middle East transformed dramatically, driven by foreign aid funded dam-led regional development projects. The paradigm of river-basin salvage, intimately connected to dam projects first developed in the US Southeast during the Great Depression, was exported alongside the dam-building expertise, but with unanticipated results. Rather than creating a worldwide system of emergency archaeology to mitigate the threats posed to heritage by the global project of modernization, the Decade of Development resulted in archaeologists becoming consultants in irrigation, education, and finance – key prerequisites to the emergence of today’s dominant modalities of the linkage between archaeology and development centred on regulatory compliance fieldwork and the encouragement of cultural tourism.KEYWORDS: Archaeologydevelopmentdamsforeign aidtechnical assistance Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 It should be noted that while many of these organizations, USAID in particular, presented their work as neutral or benevolent endeavors, there was always an embedded economic interest – what has recently been called ‘Aid for Profit’ (see Khastagir Citation2021) – insofar as they aimed to open new markets to American firms, whether as sources of raw materials and cheap labor, or as consumer bases for American-produced manufactured goods. This legacy has continued down to the present in many cases (see e.g., Attewell Citation2023; Norris Citation2021; Svitych Citation2023).2 ‘Concerning the Preservation of Cultural Property Endangered by Public or Private Works,’ 19 November 1968, https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/recommendation-concerning-preservation-cultural-property-endangered-public-or-private-works; see also Meskell on this subject (Citation2018, 46).3 In Turkey, the salvage mandate was de facto established in 1993 but not de jure until the 2000s (Özdoğan and Eres Citation2016, 66–67) and in Iran in 1988 (Sardari Citation2016; Citation2021).4 The Unified Development of the Khuzestan Region, 28 Aug. 1958, [Seeley Mudd Manuscript Library, Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library] P[apers of] D[avid E.] L[ilienthal], S[ubseries] 18C [1955–1958], box 409. https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC148_c03234.5 ‘The Unified Development of the Khuzestan Region,’ 1–3.6 Donald Wilber to David E. Lilienthal, 1 December 1958, PDL S-18C, box 409.7 ‘The Oriental Institute Archaeological Newsletters, Oct 15, 1950-Mar 11, 1973: Robert McCormick Adams, Iran,’ 388–390, 30 January 1961. https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/archeological-newsletters.8 Leo Anderson to Robert Braidwood, 30 July 1959, Directors Correspondence. Records. [Box 287, Folder 09], I[nstitute] [for the] S[tudy] [of] A[ncient] C[ultures] M[useum] A[rchives] at the U[niversity] of C[hicago].9 Robert McCormick Adams, 26 May 1994, Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 9602, Oral History Interview https://youtu.be/t4C1T4SO52s?t=1861.10 Ibid.11 Robert McCormick Adams to Leo Anderson, 10 August 1959, D[irectors] C[orrespondence] R[ecords] Box 283, Folders 09 & 18, ISACMAUC.12 Robert McCormick Adams to Leo Anderson, 27 May 1960, DCR Box 287, Folders 09, ISACMAUC.13 ‘Observations on Near Eastern Research Policy at the University of Chicago’, n.d., P[ersonal] P[apers] [and] S[pecial] C[ollections] [in the] S[mithsonian] I[nstitution] A[rchives] Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 8, Folder ‘Oriental Institute – Miscellaneous, c. 1955–1984’ https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_229252.14 Robert McCormick Adams to ‘Ezzatollah Negahbān, 24 June 1960, PPSCSIA Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 9, Folder ‘Iran, c. 1959–1979.’15 Robert McCormick Adams to ‘Ezzatollah Negahbān, 2 September 1960, DCR Box 289, Folder 15, ISACMAUC.16 W.B. Harrell to Robert McCormick Adams, 27 September 1960, DCR Box 287, Folder 09, ISACMAUC.17 ‘The Oriental Institute Archaeological Newsletters, Oct 15, 1950-Mar 11, 1973: Robert McCormick Adams, Iran,’ 388–390, 30 January 1961. https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/archeological-newsletters.18 ‘Preliminary Report on Ancient Settlements and Agriculture in the Upper Khuzestan Plains’, 14 October 1962, PPSCSIA Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 9, Folder ‘Iran, c. 1959–1979.’19 Robert McCormick Adams to Graham DuShane, 30 March 1961, PPSCSIA Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 9, Folder ‘Iran, c. 1959–1979.’20 Robert McCormick Adams to David E. Lilienthal, 5 March 1979, PPSCSIA Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 9, Folder ‘Iran, c. 1959–1979.’21 ‘‘Observations on Near Eastern research policy at the University of Chicago,’ PPSCSIA Accession 98–131 Adams, Robert McC. Box 8, ‘Oriental Institute – Miscellaneous, c. 1955–1984.’22 W.A. Copeland to Froelich Rainey, 29 November 1966, UPB107 General Files Box 4, Folder 3, P[ahlavi] U[niversity] P[rojects] R[ecords] 1958–1966, U[niversity] [of] P[ennsylvania] A[rchives] [and] R[ecords] C[enter].23 Ibid.24 Ibid.25 W.A. Copeland to Murray Nicol, 10 June 1965, UPB107 General Files Box 4, Folder 2, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.26 Murray Nicol to Torab Basiri 15 July 1966, UPB107 General Files Box 4, Folder 3, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.27 Ibid.28 Murray Nicol to Asadollah Alam, 19 February 1966, UPB107 General Files Box 4 Folder 4, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.29 ‘News Release: Pahlavi University’s Dorudzan Expedition’, 25 June 1966, UPB107 General Files Box 4, Folder 2, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.30 Ibid.31 Murray, Nicol ‘Progress Report’, 14 March 1966, UPB107 General Files Box 4, Folder 4, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.32 Murray Nicol to W.A. Copeland 10 May 1967, UPB107 General Files Box 4 Folder 2, PUPR 1958–1966, UPARC.33 Proudlove, J.A. 1969. ‘The Influence of town planning proposals on the cultural monuments in the historic cities of Tabriz, Qasvin, Ispahan and Shiraz: Iran – (mission) July 1969.’ https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000008815.34 Note also that Syria had rejected Point IV support and TVA consultants (Luke and Meskell Citation2019, 11, 13).35 Bedrettin Tuncel to René Maheu, 21 February 1968, CLT 122 53 069 72 (560) AMS 240 1967–1968 (Keban), UNESCO Archives.36 Mahdi Elmandjra to Bedrettin Tuncel, 9 July 1968, CLT 122 53 069 72 (560) AMS 240 1967–1968 (Keban), UNESCO Archives.37 Christophe, Louis. ‘Mission en Turquie 20–25 Octobre 1968’, 31 October 1968, CLT 122 53 069 72 (560) AMS 240 1967–1968 (Keban), UNESCO Archives.38 The Institute for the study of Ancient Cultures had by then long been active in eastern Anatolia, with expeditions led by Robert and Linda Braidwood, Hans Güterbock, and Maurits van Loon (see ‘The Oriental Institute Archaeological Newsletters,’ 2–8).39 Christophe, Louis. ‘Mission en Turquie 20–25 Octobre 1968,’ 31 October 1968, CLT 122 53 069 72 (560) AMS 240 1967–1968 (Keban), UNESCO Archives.40 Additional connections to Nubia included archaeologist James E. Knudstad and architect Horat Jarits. These chance encounters with Nubia veterans at Keban – both engineers and archaeologists – attest to the close ties within the regional networks of personnel forged along the Nile (Meskell and Luke Citation2021, 6; for an example of how engineers and archaeologists found themselves in conflict over the relative balance of conservation, research, and profit in such projects, see Meskell Citation2019, 12–15).