Çatalhöyük 1993 Archive Report

ÇATALHÖYÜK 1993 ARCHIVE REPORT

Conclusion

Ian Hodder

The discovery of other earlier sites in the region, including an epi-Palaeolithic site, has indicated the possibility of understanding the long-term development of society and the adoption of agriculture. Particularly when the palaeoecological relations have been understood, the reasons for the rise to prominence of Çatalhöyük can begin to be explored.

The mound itself was approximately 20m high before its skirts were covered by alluvium. It was initially located on alluvial clays which had started to form the Çarsamaba Çay fan and which probably supported rich agriculture. A river flowed between the two mounds in the Holocene, at least episodically. The site was occupied in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The lack of occupation in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages contrasts with the survey evidence from other sites in the region and indicates that the reasons for the abandonment may have been very local. Processes of salinisation, a long-term problem in the area, will have to be explored as well as a relevant factor. The site was reoccupied in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times, especially at the southern and of the larger eastern mound. This occupation consisted of large extraction and other pits, buildings, graves and midden material.

We have begun to understand the depositional and post-depositional processes on the site, for example, concerning the nature of the mud-brick and plaster, building methods, and destruction and collapse deposits. It is likely that surface scatters have been affected by downslope erosion so that smaller sherds and Lithic materials concentrate on the lower slopes and skirts. The obscuring of lower slope deposits is confirmed by the greater depth of soil covering walls in the lower scraped squares and by the extent of erosion on the mound heights where depletion has occurred down to Neolithic floor level. The surface artifact collections are thus likely to be less reliable indicators of occupation traces on the lower slopes. This is confirmed by the fact that the surface collection results did not predict the large amount of classical ceramics found in the northern most scraped square (1040, 1240). Overall, however, the consistency of results between the different strategies followed has confirmed the general reliability of the patterning obtained, as long as the distorting effects are understood.

There is some slight indication form the dateable ceramics from the scraped squares that material form Mellaart's later Neolithic levels (III-II) occurs especially at the southern end of the east mound, and the southern end of the main eminence. It may prove to be the case that the buildings uncovered at the north end of the main south eminence and on top of the north eminence are of middle level date (VII-IV) while the latest Neolithic is confined to the highest part of the site. this hypothesis can be explored in further scraping and ultimately in excavation.

Comparing our results from the scraped squares with the 1960s excavation results it is clear that very similar buildings with thick wall plaster and moulded plaster fittings are found at opposite ends of the east mound. While these preliminary indications need to be verified by larger scale scraping and excavation, the initial impression is that elaborate buildings or ‘shrines' occur across the site and there is a lack of special ‘ritual' or ‘public' areas or buildings.

The overall plan in square 1030,1180 shows a degree of gridding of houses but in detail the packing of houses seems to have developed in an accretionary manner. This gradual process is indicated in both plan and section in different parts of the site. In plan, gaps between walls are ‘filled in' with walls, and walls sometimes run only loosely parallel. In section later walls are added against earlier walls - the double and triple parallel walls are not always contemporary. Clear horizons of building and rebuilding are less apparent than expected/

There is much continuity in the use of space through time. Replastering of walls occurs up to at least 50 times, and the use of walls is replenished by inserting later walls within earlier walls. Walls of later levels are frequently built directly above earlier walls, continuing the same house space. Middens are reused and recut to allow longer use. This evidence for dramatic continuity in the use of space over centuries and even millennia is supported by recent work at Asiklihöyük (Esin, pers. comm.).

Yet there us also change in the use of individual rooms, perhaps from more domestic to more ritual. There are changes in the use of space as midden areas are taken over for buildings and as houses are filled with midden material. Midden pits have been dug through earlier walls, and earlier walls partially destroyed before newer walls added on top.

Although our conclusions after a first and preliminary, non-excavation season must be very tentative, the overall evidence suggests an ordered but decentralised organisation of Neolithic village life, coupled with a strong emphasis of continuity within which change is possible. But our main conclusions at this stage must concern the potential for exploring such hypotheses. Even without excavation it is clear that much can be learned using the techniques that have been so far employed. The same techniques will be used in 1994 to complete the surface analysis of both the east and west mounds. In particular it is clear that large scale scraping can provide much valuable information about that organisation of the later phases of the site.

The survival of architecture and artifacts, coupled with the evidence of art and human burial, make Çatalhöyük unique in its potential contribution to the understanding of the development of complex societies. But the survival of this information if increasingly under threat. Massive changes in the Konya and especially Çumra areas will affect the survival and visibility of comparative sites. Large-scale erosion on the site and changing water levels will affect the survival especially of organic material (e.g. wooden artifacts and cloth), of which well-preserved remains were found in the 1960s. The new research has pointed to the likelihood of more elaborate buildings being recovered. The unique cultural achievements of the site needs to be recovered and presented to a wider public in an attractive and accessible way.