ÇATALHÖYÜK 1998 ARCHIVE REPORT

Provisional Report on Geological Surveys in Relation to Groundstone Study - Catalhoyuk 1998

Adnan Baysal

This season, in 1998, two geological survey trips were organised from Çatalhöyük in relation to groundstone study. The study of the groundstones has brought up several vital questions which consider the source of the raw material. How did the Çatalhöyükians source this raw material?

Where is the nearest source and what were the possible problems surrounding the transportation of the material? Did they work on the material before it came to the site and so on ? These questions were the basis of this survey.

The first trip was conducted by A Baysal with V. Toprak, T Topal and A. Turkmenoglu, all of whom are geologists from METU. the first trip targeted the following:-

In order to throw some light on these two points the route of the trip was determined before visiting the villages in the following order, Alemdar, Karamankiri, Cumra, Ortaoren, Timras, Balcikhisar and Simi towards the south then in the afternoon the Karadag region would be visited.

Most of the villages, which are occupied at present, have evidence of the usage of volcanic rock types but none of them have any indication of their source. This makes us think that even in the later periods of history, villagers were still using volcanic rocks but this type of rock must have been imported from outside the Konya Plain. However, the other types become abundant as we get closer to the Northern edges of the Taurus mountains.

Çumra was visited in order to see the bed of the Çarsamba river but as in many other river beds it has been converted into a kind of irrigation channel. This makes it difficult to understand to what extent the Carsamba river is able to bring rocks through its waters. The team thus concluded that in order to investigate this aspect of river transportation further it would be necessary to head down river to where it cut the mountains; the first stop on the river route was Tavsanli Deresi. 5 samples were taken and indications were that all were Limestone. However, the bridge over the river was found to have some volcanic rocks in its foundation and it could be thus dated roughly to around the late Ottoman period? Following this we headed towards Balcikhisar from Timras. On the way to Balcikhisar the team visited the Kanal Taksim Mahali. A few samples were collected from this area and all showed limestone characteristics and a mineral which resembled ochre; although the samples did not appear good quality they were taken and sent to METU for analysis. The quality of the limestone, is poorer than real limestone, is almost like a cross between marble and flint but the geology team were keen to classify it as Limestone even while realising that the character of the rock was not close to it.

Following that second stop ,near Dineksaray, a Late Quaternary river bed was identified. The deposit had approximately a 35 - 40 m thick layer. It consisted of unconsolidated conglomerates and pebble sizes varied in between 0.1mm - 15 cm. Most of them have subrounded to well rounded shapes. The deposit contained dark coloured organic bands or lenses within the whole deposit. This could be interpreted as organic remains or exposed surface where water flow had seceded temporarily. Geological terminology for this type of deposition is paleosoil. The sequence of deposition is similar to the modern direction of the Carsamba river. However, cross bedded deposition was also identified here. Embrocation of the pebbles was aligned almost 30 degrees on the way of the flow. The pinchout of the layers indicated the deposition direction and the flow of the water. The density of the stones was of Limestone and Marble types, however greenstones were spotted and collected as a sample from this deposition.

The third stop was Belkuyu where the landscape rose dramatically and was slightly behind the gorge of the Carsamba river in the Tauruses. This small village is situated on the limestone beds of the mountain and the surface of the limestone is full of red coloured soil which is almost similar in colour to the North Area Building 5 floor in space 155. This soil type was also collected for chemical analysis. The colour of this soil is due to a high iron (Fe2 O3) content.

In the second half of the survey the Karadag region was visited. The first impression was that of limestone formations forced upwards during eruptions. This had resulted in a view of mixed hills from volcanic and limestone structure. Some of the hills especially can be described as volcanic neck These types of formation were also sampled to compare their chemical properties with the Çatalhöyük stones. Most significantly, this region is the closest volcanic area to Çatalhöyük which could be a possible source for volcanic rocks such as basaltic and andesitic stones.

The second part of the survey advanced towards the Nigde, Golcuk, and Ciftlik region. On the way to Nigde from Karapinar onwards the landscape changes its character into more volcanic structure. Karapinar region also contains large amounts of volcanic rock and ash. This could even be another source fro volcanic rocks. However, this area was not sampled but was left for proper investigation next year. The landscape had a generally dark grey colour and the rocks were apparently fine textured. A high density of basaltic and andesitic rocks exist in this region. This volcanic hilly formation follows the path of the road, then crosses the road and then advances towards the Nigde\Nevsehir region where it starts to form a volcanic centre. In the Nigde region , the Komurcu/Golludag areas were visited and obsidian and volcanic rock samples were collected but these samples have not been sent for analysis. The obsidian will be examined by another specialist , however, the volcanic rocks are fine textured andesitic but the highest density is of the ashy soft types. This region could also have been another place of contact for the Çatalhöyük people.

These surveys were divided into two; one of them targets the southern part of Çatalhöyük and the other one focuses on the North - North East part of the Konya Plain. In order to plot the volcanic and other types of rocks and mineral sources as well as understand their usage, this type of work is extremely useful and urgent. The significance of the survey can be outlined as follows:-

Significance of the Work: These surveys are based on the ideas of a largely provisional investigation of the region and identification of the raw material sources within the region. However, some of the rock types were collected during the survey to allow geological analysis to be carried out on them in the future. This survey programme will be extremely useful for :-

These surveys are going to prove extremely useful for the understanding of the geology of the surrounding area as well as throwing light on the problems which are outlined above. These types of surveys and sampling will hopefully be repeated in the next season.