Agatha Christie and Archaelogy

AGATHA CHRISTIE AND ARCHAELOGY

 

“An archaelogist is the best husband any woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her."

The house in which Agatha Christie and her husband for a while lived as guest in 1930. This photo belongs to Baki Bilgili. Click on the photo to see a bigger version.

 

Agatha  Christie was greatly devoted to her husband and his career, accompanying him on digs and fulfilling the role of junior assistant: cleaning and repairing objects, matching pottery fragments and cataloguing finds.

She became very expert, and was much respected by Max's colleagues for her painstaking and skilled work.

She also found time to write, and some of her best known books are based on her life in the Middle East: Murder on the Orient Express(1934), Death on the Nile (1937), Appointment with Death (1938) and most particularly, Murder in Mesopotamia (1936).

More details and information you can also find in these books; Agatha Christie - An Autobiography (1977), Agatha Christie Mallowan - Come, Tell Me How You Live (1946), Max Mallowan - Mallowan's Memories (1977), Max Mallowan - Nimrud and Its Remains (1966).

 

 

AGATHA CHRISTIE IN ATCANA (ANTAKYA, TURKEY) IN 1930

The house in which Agatha Christie lived at that time is still being kept intact.

 

Another picture of the house in which Agatha Christie lived. This photo also belongs to Baki Bilgili. Click on the photo to see a bigger version.

After Agatha Christe married Max Mollowan (in 1930), they came to Antakya in order to visit Mollowan's scholar Leonard Woolley. They lived for a while in a region called Atcana in Antakya as Woolley's guest.

Christe wrote her memories of Atcana in her novel "Come Tell Me How You Live".

The house that Christe lived in Atcana, is still being kept intact. The house is located in the region Atçana, near to historic Antakya city in the south of the Turkey. The archaeological excavations that began in the time of Leonard Woolley, near the house, are still in progress.

A picture of a worker that was particaped in these excavations and met Agatha Christie at that time. This photo belongs to Baki Bilgili.

This information was given to me from Baki Bilgili (you can contact him at this e-mail address: mailto:bilgili@sanatfabrikasi.com). He is a researcher and he has been following archaelogical researches for years, living in Turkey.

His friend, Mr. Suat Mistikoglu, who lives in Antakya where the old house of Agatha Christie is located, is valuable person who esteems history. The house of Agatha Christie is in a field that belongs to Mr. Mistikoglu.

He has an hotel called “Arsuz Hotel” in Arsuz (Rhossos), a historical region in Antakya.

People, thinking about to visit the region, can stay in “Arsuz Hotel” (http://www.arsuzotel.com) and at the end of visit than can also see the places that Agatha Christie lived.

You can also see bigger versions of photos of the house in which Agatha Christie lived in 1930.  (photo 01 and photo 02)

 

OTHER  ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

 

 

Ur (1928-30) Agatha Christie originally became interested in archaeology on a visit to the site of Ur in 1928. It was at Ur that she met her future husband, the archaelogist Max Mallowan (an expadition was led by Leonard Wooley, Max was an assistant of Woolley).

Agatha Christie with her husband, an archaelogist Max Mallowan working.

In the summer of 1930, after becoming engaged to Agatha, Mallowan decided that the next excavation season at Ur was to be his last. He began to look around for a different site, where his new wife could participate in his work. An opportunity soon arose.

Nineveh (1931-32)   Campbell Thomson  (with his wife Barbara) was looking for an assistant for his last seasons on the excavations he had been undertaking since 1927 at Nineveh. And at the end of September, Max travelled out to Mosul, to be followed by Agatha in October. Agatha loved Nineveh from the start.

Tell Arpachiyah (1933)  Max Mallowan worked with a small staff, consisting of himself, John Rose as architect and illustrator, and Agatha, who seems mainly to have worked on reconstructing pottery and photography.

Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Chagar Bazar (1935-37)   From 1935 to 1937 Max Mallowan excavated the site of Chagar Bazar in north-east Syria.

Tell Brak (1937-38)   Max began excavations there in the spring of 1937, returning there in the spring and autumn of 1938. Agatha was with him throughout these campaigns, and in the spring of 1938 they were joined by her daughter Rosalind.

Nimrud (1949-58)   Max 's most importnant dig was in Nimrud, which began around 1949. As always, Agatha was at his side, assisting him for next ten years.


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