ARCHAEOLOGY AND PATRONAGE A reappraisal of John Garstang’s archaeological fieldwork at Sirkeli Höyük

This article examines the archival and material evidence relating to John Garstang’s short excavations at Sirkeli Höyük from 1936-1937 to contribute to the re-evaluation of the Middle Bronze and Iron Age chronology of the site and the wider region of Cilicia. By re-assessing published as well as newly identified archival material we contextualise the financial, social and political circumstances of the Neilson Expedition to the Near East, funded by Francis and Helen Neilson. Integrating the Old Cilician (Middle Bronze Age) and Neo Cilician (Iron Age) pottery from Trench E into the sequences developed by renewed excavations at the site (since the 1990s) and previous archival research shows the importance of ongoing efforts to refine the chronological and stratigraphical results within a discussion of research progress over the last 40 years. This integrated and interdisciplinary approach to legacy excavations demonstrates the importance of considering the historical and personal factors that influence the often haphazard survival of information on which our current research depends. © 2022 Peeters Publishers. All rights reserved.