Excavation of the Ashlar Building by David Stronach concludes an ambitious 5-year program of collaborative research. David will continue to be involved in many aspects of the Project, and not least in the publication of the results. The successes of the last season could not have been attained without the support of the sponsors and friends of the Kerkenes Project. In 2003 the Project fully entered a new phase in which a program of more intensive excavation forms the focus of the Research Design. The results of the 2003 season, including the unexpected recovery of Old Phrygian inscriptions and relief sculpture, fully justify the implementation of this new program.

We are grateful to the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums for the warmth of their support, and particularly to our representatives Songül Erbay of the Ankara Directorate and Mehmet Katkat of the Eskisehir Museum who both displayed enthusiasm and friendship, as well as to the Yozgat Museum Director Erol Özen, and assistant Hasan Senyurt. We would also like to thank the Governor of Yozgat, Gökhan Sözer, Yozgat Director of Culture and Tourism, Mustafa Sarikaya, Sorgun District Governor, Mustafa Dündar, and Mayor of Sorgun, Yilmaz Kiliçarslan, for their support. The Yozgat Directors of the Köy Hizmetleri, Muharrem Sengül, TEDAS, Osman Avci, and Türk Telekom, Muttalip Efe, provided assistance which did much to aid in the smooth running of the expedition. Local good will was epitomised by the loan of a TEDAS truck with an extendable arm which made elevated photography of the central area excavations possible.

The Kerkenes Project is officially sponsored by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and operates from a Project Room provided by the Faculty of Architecture at METU. Yibitas Lafarge handed on to Lafarge Saglik Egitim ve Kültür Vakfi the role of major year-round sponsorship of the project through the METU Development Foundation. The METU Computer Centre provides technical support and hosts the Kerkenes web page. A grant from the BIAA was directed towards preparation of publications. The new excavations of a megaron and associated structures, as well as an extension of the resistivity survey, in the centre of the city was funded by a grant from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation. Excavation and conservation of the monumental architecture at the Cappadocia Gate was financed through a Rolex Award for Enterprise while excavations in the Palace Complex was made possible through generous grants from the Charlotte Bonham-Carter Trust, the Joukowsky Family Foundation, John Kelly Consulting Inc., The Silk Road Foundation of Saratoga - California, Mrs Linda Noe Laine, Dr Norman Solhkhah, The University of California at Berkeley, The Stahl Endowment Fund of UC Berkeley and several anonymous donors. We also thank Prof. Peter Kuniholm and his team who collected further charcoal samples from Kerkenes this year for analysis in The Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology at Cornell University. GEOSCAN, ESRI, ERDAS and Islem GIS assist with software. Progress with GIS studies can be largely attributed to the collaboration with The Social Systems GIS Laboratory, The University at Buffalo. Sponsors contributing to our current publication program and other aspects of the project include the Anglo Turkish Society, Arti Sistem, Bell Helicopter-Textron, Datasel, Ertem AS, METU Press, MESA, MNG Holding, Sokkia-Seza, Romar and Yenigün AS. Maintenance of and improvements to the expedition house were made possible thanks to Yibitas Yozgat Çimento, the Sorgun Belediyesi, Onduline and ODE.

The results outlined in this report owe most, however, to the dedication and enthusiasm of the Kerkenes team, including that essential element of men employed from the village which now has its own web site: www.sahmuratli.com. The complete list of Project sponsors and participants can be found on our web page:

http://www.metu.edu.tr/home/wwwkerk/