Excavations become villagers’ source of income in Komana

TOKAT - Anadolu Agency

The goal of the new project in Tokat is to make the women feel that they become a part of the Komana ancient city excavations and works in the region. AA photos

Women living in a village close to the ancient city of Komana in the central Anatolian province of Tokat are attending courses organized especially for them. They have learned to produce bags by printing figures of artworks that have been unearthed during excavations in the ancient city. The goal is to enable women to produce and sell such products to generate income, as the region becomes known.

Within the scope of the project, which took place in Bula village, close to the ancient city, textile printing courses for the women had also been arranged. Twenty women from the village attended the course, delivered by Anıl Ilgaz from the Middle East Technical University’s Industrial Products Design Department, as well as part of the excavation team working on the ancient city of Komana Coşku Türkmenoğlu.

The figures on the artworks found in the ancient city were used in the course. The participants, who used the machines and tools that were carried to an old school building in the village by the excavations team, prepared special bags and pillow cases.

The head of the excavation team, Associate Professor Burcu Erciyas, said that they wanted the villagers to adopt the excavation works in their village somehow, saying the following:

“We worked together to print the designs of the artworks on headscarves, bags and rag dolls. One of our friends would draw the figures on ceramics; then we printed these figures on the edges of bags produced by the women. Now we are working to use the same figures on bags and rag dolls. The same work will continue next year, too. The course lasted 25 days and the women produced a number of bags and pillow cases.”

Being a part of excavation

She said that their goal was to make the women feel that they were a part of the excavations in the region, adding, “We have organized this project for women to be able to earn an income from the sales of such products when Komana becomes a tourist center in the future.”

Ilgaz said that they had tried to create objects with daily functionality, adding: “We transferred the motifs on the artworks to objects of daily use and tried to give the items more value. The women showed quite a bit of interest. This is a long-term project. We want to put these products on sale and allow for the women to share the income that is generated. We ended up choosing from among these motifs. Some of them were embroidered, and some were printed on textile. We will extend the product scale in the next years.”