Current Programs
American Support for German Archaeological Institute (DAI)
One the most exciting excavation sites in the world, Göbekli Tepe, an early Neolithic mountain sanctuary near Urfa (southeastern Turkey), was at the center of the Annual Dinner of the American Friends of the DAI on October 18, 2012, in the German House in New York. An international group of collaborators is developing an ambitious site management plan. Jeff Morgan, founding director of Global Heritage Found in San Francisco, was honored as a new Honorary Member of the Cultural Heritage Committee of the DAI for his dedicated commitment to this project. In the presence of Tuba Tola Turgut, representative of the Turkish Consulate General in New York, the Head of the Cultural Department of the German Consulate General, Jakob von Wagner, called the American Friends of the DAI a shining example of German-American friendship and the Göbekli Tepe project an outstanding model for the triangular cooperation between Germany, Turkey, and the United States.
Generous American donors such as the Global Heritage Fund, the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and the Halle Foundation pledged to support the preservation and development of these oldest known man-made stone structures, which date to the immediate end of the last ice age (between 10,000 and 8,000 B. C.). Friederike Fless, President of the German Archaeological Institute, expressed her gratitude to Brian Rose, Head of the American friends of the DAI and former president of the Archaeological Institute of America, and to all the American Sponsors and Friends of the DAI which support the institute’s worldwide mission.
Further information on Germany.Info
Annual conference of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in Philadelphia
Several members of the DAI participated in the annual conference of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), held in Philadelphia from January 5th-8th, 2012. In cooperation with the Brown University a session on archaeology in Jordan was held by the DAI and the AIA. Amidst the participants attended numerous members of American universities, the Orient Department of the DAI, the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology and the Winckelmann Institute of the Humboldt-University (Berlin). The General Secretary of the Institute, Ortwin Dally, gave a report on research results and ongoing projects of the German Archaeological Institute in 2011 and welcomed recently elected corresponding members. This event was followed by a reception organized by the DAI.
As in recent years, the Institute presented its new publications at one of the over 55 booths in the well-attended Exhibit Hall. The DAI booth also served as contact point and information center for everyone interested in the Institute and its projects.
Pictures from the event (click to enlarge):
To get information about the full range of current research programs, projects and activities of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) please visit the DAI website: www.dainst.org