Answer:
It has always occurred to me that conservation must be one of the most daunting and challenging aspects of excavating a site. This is particularly true when the site is internationally recognised through UNESCO World Heritage inscription, where so many parties have an interest in its protection and management. So when I had the chance to work at Ҫatalhöyük during the 2015 field season I knew I wanted to discover more about the challenges of conservation. With this in mind I drafted some rough questions, and sat down with Ashley Lingle, Head of Conservation, to see what I could find out about the type of work she and her team do.
What struck me most from our conversation was the amount of work the conservation team undertake on site each year, and the sheer number of responsibilities they have. This ranges from site maintenance - making sure the site is clean so visitors can visually understand the archaeology - to the delicate nature of small finds conservation, often involving the reconstruction of finds to ensure they are in a stable enough condition for study. All of these aspects of work have their own challenges, changing from year to year. Most interesting to me is the work the team do in the trenches during the excavation season. When a particularly fragile find is uncovered, such as a wall painting or faunal remains, the team are called out to recover the find. This requires careful judgement and negotiation with other analytical labs in order to decide on the best approach and methods to use for removal.
Step-by-step explanation: