56:. Mellaart stayed several days in the house at İzmir, making sketches and notes. Photography of the pieces was forbidden, according to Mellaart. Papastrati promised to photograph the pieces herself at the next opportunity and send the photos to him. The items were said to have been found in shallow graves near the city of
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There are various views about the reality behind the Dorak affair. One perspective holds that
Mellaart, who was known only in relation to the excavations at Çatalhöyük, had invented the treasure himself. The supposed letter from Anna Papastrati has similarities with the typewriter used by his wife in
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Investigations by the
Turkish authorities and by journalists revealed, however, that the address on Kazim Direk Caddesi belonged to a commercial building in a street which had no residential houses. However, there were at least two other streets of the same name in İzmir at that time, and the street
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operation there. In the late 1960s, this was known as a key point for smuggling of items out of Turkey for the illegal art market. In this view, Mellaart was used to provide high-value finds of the Yortan culture with a history from a renowned expert. In this view, the meeting with
Mellaart on the
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In 2023, an
Italian archaeologist fully reconstructed the story of Dorak in the book 'Il tesoro di Dorak. Archeo inchiesta' (Edipuglia, Bari). Enrico Giannichedda's work analyses the consistency of the treasure, the data from the drawings of finds never published by Mellaart, and the numerous
76:) on a piece of notepaper. No communication was received subsequently from Papastrati. Mellaart said that he did not make the discovery public at first because he was waiting for the photos and consent to publication. He said he had written to İzmir twice without receiving an answer.
120:. There was eye-witness testimony that a thick-set foreigner had been seen near the find location at Dorak with a woman; one witness even identified Mellaart himself. By 1964, public pressure had reached such a point that the Turkish government forbade Mellaart to excavate at
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Dear James, Here is the letter you want so much. As the owner, I authorise you to publish your drawings of the Dorak objects, which you drew in our house. You always were more interested in these old things than in me! Well, there it is. Good luck, and goodbye. Love, Anna
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and noticed that she was wearing an unusual armband. It is claimed she told him that this armband was part of a collection of antiquities in the possession of her family. He therefore went to the house of
Papastrati, who was a young Greek lady and spoke good
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with a slight
American accent. There she showed him numerous pieces which were stylistically associated with the Yortan culture. The Yortan culture was one of the cultures which neighboured ancient
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might have been renamed. At any rate, the address could not be located. The pieces which
Mellaart had described never appeared in private collections or on the legal art market.
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68:. Mellaart reported that he had seen photographs of the graves in which the Dorak treasure had been found and that there was a description of the discovery in
72:, which he had also seen. Mellaart said he left the house after a few days without correctly noting its location, although he noted a name and address (
124:; the following year, the government did allow him to enter Turkey, but on the condition that he would participate in excavation only as an assistant.
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In 1962, the
Turkish press began to accuse Mellaart of smuggling the treasure out of the country in exchange for a cut worth 240 million
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The letter was dated "18/10/1958" and the return to sender address was "Kazim Direk
Caddesi no. 217, Karsiyaka – İzmir."
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Another opinion connects the
American accent of "Anna Papastrati" with the US base at İzmir or with employment at a
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Suzan Mazur, "Dorak Diggers Weigh in on Anna & Royal Treasure", www.scoop.co.nz from 4 August 2005
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Dora Jane Hamblin, Türkei - Land der lebenden Legenden, Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1975,
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train was intentionally arranged and he was then played by criminals.
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Mellaart then published his sketches and notes on the finds in
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the institute and for his other correspondence at that time.
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inconsistencies in the reconstructions made in the past.
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was a scandal concerning a group of antiquities from the
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Die Dorak-Affäre. Schätze, Schmuggler, Journalisten.
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Dorak Diggers Weigh in on Anna & Royal Treasure
79:In mid-October 1958, a letter was received by the
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144:Posthumously, Mellaart has been implicated in
74:Anna Papastrati, 217 Kazim Direk Street, İzmir
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276:Getting to The Bottom of the Dorak Affair
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201:"James Mellaart: Pioneer…..and Forger"
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148:of fabrication of archeological finds.
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278:, www.scoop.co.nz from 27 August 2005
16:1950s–60s Turkish antiquities scandal
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312:Archaeological discoveries in Turkey
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252:Il tesoro di Dorak, Archeo inchiesta
217:Il tesoro di Dorak, Archeo inchiesta
181:Türkei – Land der lebenden Legenden
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232:Kenneth Pearson/Patricia Connor,
285:The Dorak Affair's Final Chapter
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128:Debate about the Dorak Treasure
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317:Archaeological forgeries
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85:Ankara
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