WORKING AS AN

Drawing and illustration is part of an archaeological excavation and it is as important as digging and conservation. I started my career as an illustrator first in a course called “Archaeological Drawing and Illustration” taught by Julian Bennett. After I learned the basics of drawing pottery, I joined the Kinet Höyük excavation in 1996 and started drawing simple but real diagnostic sherds. I was not aware of my talent until the director of the excavation, Marie-Henriette Gates, invited me to work with her also in the department during the wintertime. Then I started working both at Kinet and at Bilkent and training myself at drawing more complicated finds. However, until 1998 I drew only pottery. In the 1999 season at Kinet, I learned how to draw an object from my professional illustrator friend Elif Koparal (Ege Univ.) and from Ben Claasz Coockson at Bilkent. At the same time I learnt how to draw architectural remains.   

I have done a few drawings for several publications. In 2002 I was offered another drawing job by Charles Gates for his book called ”Ancient Cities”. This was completely different from what I have done so far. For this project I had to draw maps, city and building plans, architectural and sculptural details. It was so scary to me because I had no  idea  whether I would be able do what I was asked to do. This was another occasion for me to realize that I can draw without any difficulty. Now I am happily working in the department as a professional illustrator with M-H Gates and keep improving myself by consulting with Ben Claasz Coockson.

Illustration is the last step for a find after it is washed, selected, recorded and restored. During the excavation season at Kinet, most of the recovered pottery is cleaned by the sherd washers, left to dry, and put on tables labeled according to each trench. After they are selected and recorded by the trench supervisors and their assistants, the diagnostics are brought to me for drawing. Objects and complete pottery first go to the conservator for cleaning and gluing. After drawing, I return them to the conservator for filling in the gaps or leave them incrates for final recording. Ideally, inking should be done at the site, because you have a chance to look at the find. However, due to high temperature and humidity at Kinet, tracing papers are folded, become lumpy, and absorb grease and dirt from your hands. For these reasons, I prefer doing the pencil drawings at the site and inking them after the excavation. Because they are carefully photographed, I use the photos of the finds from time to time when I am inking. After I finish inking, I put them in their carefully labeled folders.

Neslihan Yılmaz

Drawing walls with a drawing frame at Kinet Höyük

All the drawings must be organized in a logical order because they are used for publications by the site supervisors and other specialists. Every excavation uses its own technique to classify and organize the drawings. The recording system I use for the Kinet Höyük drawings is simple but very effective and useful. I number each page of pencil drawing and file them, then record them in the computer. For the inked versions, I use a different filing system. I classify them by year and trench and put them in separate folders which are recorded also in the computer but under a different file name. This system is very useful for us to reach every single drawing and to know whether or not an object has been drawn. This is part of a permanent system of the Kinet Höyük excavation going on for years.

Drawing has many advantages. First the illustrator becomes familiar with pottery, objects and other materials of all periods and broadens his/her knowledge of archaeological materials. Drawing helps specialists to see and classify the drawings very easily for their publications. Moreover, the decoration, inscription and other features that are hardly seen or not seen at first, become clearer in the drawing. One other advantage of drawing an object is that specialists can compare in one picture the sections and outer views of every object and sometimes together with their imaginative reconstruction. Photographs in a way can show the object as is but they never show the combination of outer view and the section as in drawing.

It was a great pleasure for me to work in the Kinet Höyük excavation and at Bilkent both as a student and an illustrator for years. I believe that I have made the right choice to go especially to Kinet Höyük. I am very grateful to my boss, Marie-Henriette Gates, for her exceptionally wonderful personality, patience and kind help. I am also grateful to Charles Gates, Ben Claasz Coockson and Julian Bennett for their kind help and support. This year I am going off to Belgium to do my M.A., and hope to do my Ph.D. in the following years. However I will never forget this warm, supportive and welcoming department and the lovely time I spent here.

Neslihan Yılmaz

Newsletter No. 1 - 2002, Pg. 8, 9

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