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

Abstract

During 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. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.