We may have been misinformed. The travel agent we asked about DtSA VIII told us Gobekli Tepe was most accessible for visits during the summer months. But the official word from DAI Orientabteilung is that September and October are the working months, hence the best for visits. ("Unfortunately we can not tell at this moment, when a team will be at Göbekli in 2009. That decision will be made only in November/December this year, the usual months for excavation being september/october.")

I have requested a confirmation of that, and am waiting for a reply. At the moment we're assuming we'll be trying to go to Turkey in the fall of 2009. September and October being perhaps not the most congenial time to visit beautiful and mythic Wiltshire, weatherwise, perhaps it is best that we not try to coordinate the Megameet with DtSA VIII. Sorry for all the confusion! This darned trip planning is a bit rough over the Internet.

We would still like to invite any interested parties to join us for Turkey. (Assuming we ever can figure it out!) The price quoted by the agent we contacted seemed very reasonable, and might even be slightly less per person for a larger group.