Catalhoeyuek 2005 Archive Report - Introduction

7/28/2019 Catalhoeyuek 2005 Archive Report - Introduction

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Figure 1 . Plan of 1ist degree protected area boundries ofNeolithic East and Chalcolithic West mounds andapproximate extent of Classical site within 3rd degreeprotection zone.

ATALHYK 2005 ARCHIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Ian Hodder

New finds and new interpretations at atalhyk

It is remarkable how new finds can challenge ideas that have been built up over many years.

atalhyk has been excavated now for several decades. First it was excavated by James Mellaart inthe 1960s, and the current team has been working at the site continuously since 1993. Many theoriesabout the site had settled down and have been taken for granted. But yet this year we found twoobjects which upset established views and forced us to reconsider some of our unquestionedassumptions. It is amazing what a few small objects can do.

120 people from all over the worldassembled at atalhyk againthis summer. The team came fromBritain, the United States, Iran,Romania, Serbia, Greece, Poland in fact 13 different countries. Allthese people came to join Turkishcolleagues working at the site. Inaddition to the Polish, US- andUK-based teams there are nowtwo teams from Turkey working atthe site. One, from IstanbulUniversity and led by Mihribanzbaaran, has started work onthe southwestern edge of the mainEast Mound. Their aim is to try toreach the lowest levels of themound as they are interested inmaking comparisons with theirexcavations at the earlier sites ofAkl Hyk and Musular. Theother, from Selcuk University inKonya and led by Ahmet Trpanand Asuman Baldran, plan toexcavate the large historic site to

the southeast of the East Mound (Figure 1). This year they began by doing surface survey andgeophysical prospection. Together the Turkish and international teams have made some exciting newdiscoveries that are changing interpretations of this 9000 year old site in the Konya region.

atalhyk 2005 Archive Report - Introduction http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2005/ar05_01

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Figure 2. Clay stamp seal(11652.X1).

Figure 3. Excavated in the 1960s this example ofa plaster relief has traditionally been interpreted asa 'mother goddess's' but perhaps interpretationsneed revising in view of the discovery of the claystamp seal (11652.X1).

One example of the new discoveries that have shaken ourearlier assumptions is a beautifully made stamp seal (Figure2), found in the fill of a Level V building in the South Area onthe East mound. These stamps were probably used to stampdesigns on skin or clothing. This example shows an animalwith its front and hind legs raised upwards. Such figures havebeen known from atalhyk for some time as plaster reliefson the walls of houses. An example excavated by James

Mellaart is shown in (Figure 3). These plaster reliefs haveoften been interpreted as mother goddess figures. But theheads and hands of the plaster relief examples have alwaysbeen cut off, so it was never possible to say whether thefigures were humans or not. But now the stamp seal providesa key. Here the head and the hind paws remain. They clearlyshow that the figure is an animal, probably a bear. So it isprobable that the reliefs with upraised arms and legs are notgoddesses but bears. Depicting animals, such as leopards, inhouses is common at atalhyk, and so it is not surprisingthat we should find a bear. It has long been argued that someform of mother goddess was central to the symbolism atatalhyk, and these views were partly based on theinterpretation of the reliefs with upraised arms as a woman.While it remains possible that the figures are mother bears

and representative of a female divinity, there is now little evidence that they are indeed women at all.

Another important object this year thatupset our long-held views was a clayfigurine discovered by the Istanbul team inthe burnt fill of a house (Figure 4).Immediately on finding the figurine we wereall taken aback by its very strange andunusual imagery. The front of the figurinelooks very much like the small, squat, socalled mother goddess figurines that areso well known (though rare) fromatalhyk. There are full breasts on whichthe hands rest, and the stomach is

extended in the central part. There is ahole in the top for the head which ismissing. As one turns the figurine aroundone notices that the arms are very thin, andthen on the back of the figurine one sees adepiction of either a skeleton or the bonesof a very thin and depleted human. Theribs and vertebrae are clear, as are thescapulae and the main pelvic bones. Thefigurine can be interpreted in a number of ways - as a woman turning into an ancestor, as a womanassociated with death, or as death and life conjoined. It is possible that the lines around the bodyrepresent wrapping rather than ribs. Whatever the specific interpretation, this is a unique piece thatmay force us to change our views of the nature of atalhyk society and imagery. Perhaps theimportance of female imagery was related to some special role of the female in relation to death asmuch as to the roles of mother and nurturer.


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Figure 4. Clay figurine 12401.X7. Sideview showing full breasts on which thehands rest and the extended stomach onone side and a skeletal representation of

scapula, ribs, vertebrae and pelvis on theother other side.

Figure 5. In-situ bull's head and horns set in one side of abench in Building 52 in the 4040 Area.

Another exciting event this year was the discoveryof our first full in-situ bulls head and horns (Figure5). In this case, the bulls skull had not beenplastered but it had been set into the wall. In fact,there may have been a whole series of bullsabove this one as we found at least 11 cattle hornsplus some skulls dismantled above the one shownin Figure 5. There were traces of painting beside

and beneath the skull. Adjacent to the bulls headin Figure 5 is a collapsed and dismantled benchthat was also set with a row of bulls horns. Thiscomplex installation was found in a burned room inBuilding 52 in part of the 4040 Area on the northhill of the East Mound. We had already suspectedthat elaborate buildings of the type found byMellaart in the south of the East Mound would alsobe found elsewhere on the site, but this find reallyproved that without any further doubt. Thediscovery of the installed bulls head in a burntroom also shows us that the conditions ofabandonment have a major effect on what isfound. In most cases, installations are carefullydismantled before a house is abandoned. In thiscase, the fire and the large numbers of artifactsfound on the floors, and the concentrations ofseeds (naked barley, einkorn, emmer, peas, tinycrucifer seeds and almonds with kernels still in theshell) in the storage bins, all indicate a swift and unusual abandonment.

Overall we excavated 7 newbuildings in the 4040 Area on thenorthern hill (see Figure *). Whileseveral of these had beendisturbed by the digging of thefoundation trench for a probablyRoman building or tower, and byByzantine burials, several hadundergone a careful abandonmentprocess which had resulted in the

preservation of internal features.For example, in Building 57 wefound that an upright plasteredcolumn was still in position, and inthe same building a uniqueplastered fireplace with deeplyincised curving, spiral-meanderdecoration (Figure 6). While this isthe only example of such afireplace that has been found at

atalhyk, it is notable that there is another building (Building 58) in the same area that has squaredrather than the usual rounded fireplace or oven. There are a number of ways in which we had begunto suspect that small groups of houses with their own distinct architectural features might occur in the4040 Area. In this same area, the same two buildings (Buildings 57 and 58) have two projecting wallson the western side of the main room, dividing this part of the room into three sections. While JamesMellaart did find a few such examples in the South Area, this concentration in one area of the northpart of the site does suggest local groupings of architectural styles. Burial patterns too have continuedto suggest that some buildings act as places of burial for a group of houses. All this suggests localcommunity groupings between the individual house and the large building sectors identified in the2003 scraping in the 4040 Area.

It is also clear that apparently contemporary plans of houses on one level at atalhyk may masksignificant variation in date. For example, in the 4040 Area Building 58 is stratigraphically later than itsneighbour Building 55. On the basis of pottery and obsidian finds, Building 58 and adjacent buildingsto the east excavated last year are later than surrounding buildings and probably date to Levels IV-II.On the other hand, Space 90 in the northern part of the 4040 strip excavated this year is dated bypottery to Levels VII-V. This variation in date will be examined further with radiocarbon


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have very different dates. Indeed, some of the supposed spatial patterning identified above may betemporal. The squared ovens in Buildings 57 and 58 may both be part of a change that occurs at thetop of the mound towards greater importance given to ovens (the oven in Building 57 is alsodecorated). A central oven was found in a late building in the 4040 strip excavated in 2004 (Building47), and in 2005 Building 55 had painting on the wall by the oven. In 2005 also, a central hearth wasfound in a Level II-I building in TP, and central hearths have been found on the later West Mound. Inthe lower levels in the East Mound ovens tend to be rounded and to be set into or be close to southwalls of main rooms. The shift in shape and location for the ovens, and their decoration, may indicate

a greater centrality for domestic oven-based activities in the later levels of the site.

Other activities

An educational programme at the site sponsored by Shell and Coca-Cola has continued this year.The aim of the programme is to educate young people from the Konya region, and other areas ofTurkey, about the importance of archaeology for Turkey and about atalhyk. This year 500 childrenspent a day at the site. Each day 20 children spent the day learning about the site, doing someexcavation of previously excavated earth, doing atalhyk paintings and making models ofatalhyk houses. The programme is being run by Glay Sert.

With funding from the Global Heritage Fund, and with the expertise of Nick Merriman and his studentsfrom the Institute of Archaeology in University College London, the Visitor Center was entirelyredecorated and the exhibit remade, display panels were renewed and placed on the site, and anaudio guide was produced in English and Turkish.

With help from the umra belediye bakan, a car park was made across the road from the entrance

to the site. This has greatly alleviated congestion in the entrance area to the site as tourist numbershave continued to increase.

We are extremely grateful to Cengiz Bekta for his exciting designs for a atalhyk museum. Thiscaptures the spirit of the site and would be made out of mud brick and located near umra. The taskthat faces us now is to raise the funding for this imaginative venture.

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Catalhoeyuek 2005 Archive Report - Introduction

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