22 Facts About James Mellaart

James Mellaart FBA was a British and Dutch archaeologist and author who is noted for his discovery of the Neolithic settlement of Catalhoyuk in Turkey.

James Mellaart was expelled from Turkey when he was suspected of involvement with the antiquities black market.

James Mellaart was involved in a string of controversies, including the so-called mother goddess controversy in Anatolia, which eventually led to his being banned from excavations in Turkey in the 1960s.

James Mellaart held both British and Dutch citizenship, and his family originally came from Scotland; according to one colleague, he "considered himself a Scot".

James Mellaart lectured at the University of Istanbul and was an assistant director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.

In 1951 James Mellaart began to direct excavations on the sites in Turkey with the assistance of his Turkish-born wife Arlette, who was the secretary of BIAA.

James Mellaart helped to identify the "champagne-glass" pottery of western Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age, which in 1954 led to the discovery of Beycesultan.

When James Mellaart excavated the Catalhoyuk site in 1958, his team found more than 150 rooms and buildings, some decorated with murals, plaster reliefs, and sculptures.

James Mellaart was even accused of making up at least some of the mythological stories he presented as genuine.

The site stirred great excitement when James Mellaart announced it and has since caused much head scratching.

In 1965 James Mellaart gave a report of a new rich find from Dorak to Seton Lloyd of the British Institute.

James Mellaart said that he had seen the treasures in 1958 in the Izmir home of a young woman whom he met on a train.

James Mellaart sat in front of him in the train car, wearing a gold bracelet which drew his attention.

James Mellaart told him that she had more at home, so he came over and saw the collection.

James Mellaart did not allow him to take photographs, but did let him make drawings of them.

James Mellaart gave the story to The Illustrated London News, and then Turkish authorities demanded to know why they had not been informed.

James Mellaart said that the young woman, named Anna Papastrati, asked him to keep it secret.

James Mellaart asked the Institution to sponsor publications of the story, but they refused as Mellaart could provide no real evidence.

In consequence, Turkish officials expelled James Mellaart for suspected antiquities smuggling.

James Mellaart was later allowed to return but eventually banned completely.

James Mellaart cited the distribution of a new type of wheel-made pottery, Red Slip Wares, as some of the best evidence for his theory.

Zangger and Fred Woudhuizen, who published the text after discovering drawings of it among James Mellaart's papers, have contended for its authenticity, but other scholars consider the inscription spurious, pointing out that it fits the pattern of James Mellaart's previous forgeries but does not fit what is otherwise known about the history of the period.