Shadowhoyuk: A shadow puppet play (2007) about the biography of a prehistoric settlement mound, the houses and the people that archaeologists found there. Sounds are all entirely recorded at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. In collaboration with Eva Bosch and Steve Mills. 20 mins

The Lament for Dido: This 1-minute movie was filmed during the 2001 field season at Çatalhöyük by Ruth Tringham  and given its new soundtrack  as part of a presentation at the  Amercian Anthropological Association annual meeting in December 2001. The idea was to show what a remarkable effect the soundtrack has on coloring your appreciation of archaeological  excavation. The soundtrack is from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Dido sings this just before she commits suicide because of unrequited love. We did not realise until the following season that this skull was in fact that of a 40-year old woman! The hands and feet belong to Lori Hager, the project’s human remains specialist. You can hear the original  soundtrack on the RAVE website.

Back in My Hometown (2010) a movie that reflects on the fact that archaeologists may spend many years in a  place digging a big hole that is ultimately filled in and becomes invisible. The project itself , like your hometown, moves on when you leave, and coming back is both sad and nostalgic and joyous all at the same time. This movie is about  my participation in the Çatalhöyük (BACH) project, and was inspired also by the song entitled “Archaeology” composed and sung by Chris Rosser, whose uncle is an archaeologist. Chris’ music comprises the only soundtrack for the movie. The movie was created for the 7-and-a-half film festival to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Society for American Archaeology and is 7 and a half minutes long.

Unless otherwise specified, this site is licensed by a Creative Commons 2.5 license