Neolithic Cultural Heritage in Greece and Turkey and the Politics of Land and History

Abstract

The paper explores and compares the ways in which Neolithic heritage in Greece and Turkey—two archaeologically and historically influential cases—has been used at the level of the state and the diverse meanings, values and histories ascribed to it by local communities and public discourse. Using four very representative examples as case studies, including the World Heritage sites of Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe in Turkey as well as Dimini and Dispilio in Greece, the paper demonstrates how Neolithic spaces are used by different agents to install a certain image of history and to form a collective memory, but also to emphasize difference and discontinuity. The main aim is to explore the relationship between heritage, space and history. Special emphasis is placed on the politics of history or historiography and identity at all levels and on the placement of the debates into a larger historical and discursive context.