Harran welcomes volunteer archaeologists

Visitors to the ancient site of Harran in Southeast Anatolia now have the chance to participate in excavations on one of the oldest sites in human history.

As part of a new project, a special area measuring about 30 square meters has been created in the Ulu Mosque excavation area in which tourists can attempt to conduct excavations for sculptures, ceramic pieces and copper objects placed by archaeologists

Harran District Gov. Temel Ayca said the excavations were very important for tourism in the district. 

"People want to experience archaeological excavations. This work makes visitors stay in the district for a longer time, which is our goal. This is one of the most important parts of our rural design project. We want to establish a big archaeopark in Harran. Then people will be able to make excavations in a larger field," Ayca said.

The head of the Harran excavations, Professor Mehmet Önal, said the excavations in the field were like the real ones, with visitors beginning their dig after receiving some lessons in theory.

"Just like real archaeologists, visitors find artifacts and get very excited. At the end of the education, each of them leaves here as a protector of old artifacts. This makes us very pleased," he said, adding that his team also provided information about the artifacts unearthed by visitors.