TEMPORARY SHELTERS FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION AT KINIK HÖYÜK. CONSIDERATIONS AFTER THREE YEARS OF WORK Marco Morandotti 1 , Emanuele Zamperini 2 , Valentina Cinieri 3 ABSTRACT: The design of temporary shelters for archaeological excavations is a recent and unexplored theme, indeed immovable finds are typically protected by plastic sheeting only. The paper illustrate and analyse the behaviour of temporary shelters built at the archaeological site of Kınık Höyük (Turkey). Timber shelters built in 2013 were directly designed by local manpower and were lifted up twice during winter by strong local winds. In 2014 the research group was involved in the design of a new system of shelters and decided to build timber frame structures assembled by nailing. To ensure resistance to winds: the structure was braced using struts and X bracings; suitable stabilizing masses were set up. During the subsequent winter season, shelters resisted to the loads of wind and snow. At the beginning of the 2015 campaign, one of the shelters was dismantled to allow excavation activities, while the second was kept. At the end of the campaign three new shelters were built: the first in replacement of the dismantled one, the second next to the one built the previous year and still existing, the third in a more protected area. In August 2015, a strong storm hit the region where the archaeological site is, demolishing two of the newly built shelters, leaving intact the other two structures. The paper will point out the reasons of this failure. KEYWORDS: Temporary structures; Shelters for archaeological excavations; Timber frames; Kınık Höyük. 1 INTRODUCTION 123 The design of temporary shelters for archaeological excavations is a rather recent and unexplored design theme, indeed works of preservation are usually postponed to the end of excavation campaign and in the meanwhile immovable finds (e.g. architectural remains) are typically protected by plastic sheeting only. From the theoretical point of view, preservation of archaeological artefacts is a quite important and complex subject; indeed, usually “subsoil archaeology” or “excavation archaeology” destroy part of the objects of its own study, to bring to light further finds or buried structures [1]. The choice of the element that must be kept in site during excavations is quite complex: on the one hand it’s impossible to foresee what will be found below the stratification that will be removed; on the other the comprehension of the visible elements is always partial and it often needs the disassembly of the elements themselves for the analysis of the relationship with underlying layers. Under these conditions – as said – works of preservation are postponed to the end of excavation campaign, after that the phase of selection and removal of finds and structures ended. With this 1 Full professor, DICAr, University of Pavia, marco.morandotti@unipv.it 2 Adjunct professor, DICATeA, University of Parma; postdoctoral research fellow, DICAr, University of Pavia, emanzamp@yahoo.com 3 PhD, DICAr, University of Pavia; specialization student, SSBAP, University of Genoa, valentina.cinieri@gmail.it approach conservative works are not required during excavation, apart of some protective layer (a nonwoven fabric or a plastic sheeting ballasted using earth and small stones) used to prevent the decay of unearthed immovable finds during the period between the end of an excavation campaign and the beginning of the subsequent. Adopting this strategy, it’s impossible the fruition and valorisation of the site, and many perishable material elements (e.g. mud plasters) are likely to decay and be irretrievably lost. To prevent these drawbacks, a different approach should be followed. For example, building temporary shelters allows a more efficient protection to remains and immovable finds and can allow an at least partial visitability of the site. Designing temporary structures some aspects (e.g. speed of construction, ease of disassembly, possibilities for reuse of elements) assume greater importance, others (e.g. durability) take second place. Temporary shelters for archaeological excavations also set further needs [2]: of short construction time (to extend the time for excavation); of adaptation to a complex plani-altimentric context (often in the absence of a definitive survey of the site); of working in absence of usual construction machinery and without ordinary foundations. In addition, since archaeological excavations are often in foreign states, technicians and manpower do not speak any shared language and they have a quite different technical culture. Furthermore, excavations are often located in isolated or peripheral areas, therefore only few specific materials are available at affordable price and for prompt delivery.