Staff profile

Academic biography

Batuhan Özdemir is a PhD researcher in the Department of Archaeology. He holds two master’s degrees: one in Archaeology from Batman University, Turkey (2018), where he studied under the supervision of Prof. Dr. K. Levent Zoroğlu, and another in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies from the University of East Anglia, UK (2020).

His current research focuses on the Charles Fellows Lycian Collection in the British Museum. His work examines how Lycia was framed as a culture and civilisation during the 19th century, with particular attention to its material culture and representation within the museum context.

Research

Thesis title:  Geopolitics and Cultural Identities in the 19^th Century: Framing Charles Fellows’ Lycian Collection in the British Museum

This project focuses on investigating the framing of Lycia in the 19^th century, taking into account the collection of antiquities in the British Museum. Although the core of this thesis is the reception of the Lycian antiquities in the British Museum, it also aims to reveal how Lycia was framed as a region and civilisation during the era. This will be achieved by unpacking the historical layers of the 19^th century, discussing first how Charles Fellows, a middle-class gentleman from a merchant-class family, sought to establish authority in antiquarianism by utilising his discoveries in Lycia and assuming responsibility for offering his services in collecting its antiquities for the British Museum.

This requires a comprehensive understanding of Victorian Britain, when the middle class was gradually finding a place in society through reforms but was still not fully accepted in elite circles. The discussion then moves to the process of acquiring a firman (an imperial decree) from the Ottomans to collect the Lycian antiquities. This also requires a deep understanding of the geopolitics of the Ottoman Mediterranean, revealing the details of Anglo-Ottoman relations in the first half of the 19^th century. This analysis will demonstrate how British influence was effective in the court of the Ottoman Sultan, relying on its colonial power and the strength of the deterrent Royal Navy. It is also important to ask why the Ottomans allowed Britain to collect a substantial number of antiquities from Lycia and how they framed antiquities within their territories, if such a perception existed.

After obtaining the firman, the thesis focuses on how Lycian antiquities were collected from the region during two military-backed expeditions in 1841–1842 and 1843–1844, with the Royal Navy playing a key role in excavating, dismantling, and transporting the antiquities. Fellows was also a pivotal figure in these colonial enterprises, overseeing the collection of antiquities. This part of the thesis explores the role of collecting Lycian antiquities in proto-archaeological practices of the 19^th century, considering how their collection was driven by imperialist ambition and rivalry with France and Prussia, ultimately compromising the value and integrity of the Lycian monuments.

When the transportation of the antiquities to the British Museum was completed, another debate emerges concerning their exhibition and presentation in this top-tier institution in the imperial capital. From its inauguration in 1759 until the arrival of the Lycian antiquities, the Museum adhered to an exhibition doctrine that prioritised presenting antiquities as aesthetically as possible. This approach aimed to make them appear ‘perfectly Greek,’ as philhellenism was at its peak and classical Greek antiquities were regarded as the pinnacle of the history of art, embodying aesthetic purity and excellence. The Lycian antiquities, with their local and Near Eastern iconographic elements as well as marginal Greek features, did not neatly align with the British Museum’s exhibition doctrine. In this context, the thesis investigates how the British Museum framed the Lycian antiquities and examines the role of Fellows, in transforming the Museum’s exhibition doctrine from an aesthetic approach to a ‘scientific’ one that prioritised juxtaposing antiquities based on their historical significance—in other words, presenting a historical journey through the material cultures of civilisations.

The final part of the dissertation explores how the presentation of the Lycian antiquities in the Museum evolved until the end of the 19^th century, culminating in the closure of the gallery dedicated to them. This analysis considers the changing attitudes towards museum display during the period taking into account the Lycian collection in the British Museum.