ÇATALHÖYÜK 1995 ARCHIVE REPORT

Sampling report

W. Matthews

Introduction and aims

During the first season of renewed excavation the objective was to collect a wide range of samples for organic and inorganic analyses in order to obtain and evaluate new data on Neolithic subsistence, sociocultural activities and the natural and built environment. A two tier sampling strategy was designed firstly to sample floors and occupation deposits at 50cm intervals, and secondly to provide a representative but more selective range of samples from deposits infilling buildings. The 50cm sampling intervals were adapted to grid systems which were configured within distinct contexts such as fire installations, platforms, benches and low walled areas, for example. We are very grateful to the Directorate General of Monuments and Museums in Turkey for permission to export samples for scientific analysis.

Methods

A list of potential analyses and collection methods was drawn up in consultation with all members of the team, including the paleoecologists, geophysicist, conservators, archaeozoologists, paleoethnobotanist, and Dr R. P. Evershed at the Environmental and Analytical Chemistry Section, University of Bristol. The applicability of each analysis to specific contexts and related questions was considered and a sampling strategy designed for each particular context and deposit type. Additional analyses are continually being considered as the project develops.

Bulk samples of 250g of deposit for chemical, physical and mineralogical analyses of organic and inorganic remains were collected as two separate samples of 125g, the first in an A5 paper envelope, the second in tinfoil, in order to enable moist excavated deposits to dry, and to avoid contamination from plasticisers present in plastic bags. Sample collection and the sequence in which analyses are conducted will be streamlined whenever this is possible in order to minimize the number of separate samples collected in the field and to maximise the range of analyses which can be conducted.

A programme of complementary organic and inorganic analyses is being designed and conducted in consultation with Dr R.P. Evershed, University of Bristol, and Dr D.A. Jenkins, Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science, University of Wales. A range of analyses which can be conducted in the new laboratories at the site will be applied in the future where possible.

Progress in the Field

The samples collected for laboratory analysis in 1995 are summarised below in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of the samples collected for analysis in 1995
B1= Building 1, North Area. Area E-- Mellaart's area, South West of the mound.
Chemical= chemical, physical and mineralogical analyses of organic and inorganic remains

The locations of samples in Building 1 are illustrated for the upper phase in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and for the lower main phase of occupation in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The three-dimensional location of each sample is recorded on plan.

Detailed sampling procedures had to be employed at the outset of excavation when we encountered an upper phase within Building 1. This upper phase of occupation was represented by discontinuous, steeply sloping floors and a refitting of the oven. More selective sampling was introduced during excavation of the underlying burnt structural debris which lay on top of the main phase of occupation. Detailed sampling at 50cm intervals within contextual grid systems was reintroduced once we were 2-4cm above the floor of the main phase of occupation.

It was difficult on occasion to separate the collapsed debris and burnt roofing material from the thin discontinuous lens of charred remains and deposits which lay on top of the final plaster floor of the main phase of occupation. Burnt brick fragments and charred roofing materials in places lay directly on the plaster floor, but within the distance of only a few centimetres, lay on top of a cluster of charred acorns or layers of silicified plant remains or lentils in occupation deposits on the floor, for example.

In response to this situation seven undisturbed block samples with intact microstratigraphic sequences of plaster floors and overlying occupation deposits and collapsed debris were collected for experimental micrometric and millimetric excavation, sub-sampling and in-situ analyses in the laboratory.

Micromorphology

Micromorphological samples were taken from excavated contexts in Building 1 and Area E, and from sections in Area E, ethnoarchaeological research areas, and a palaeochannel to the north east of the site investigated by Dr N. Roberts and his team.

It was very beneficial to have a microscope in the field this year. We were able to study the micromorphology of samples under an optical polarsing microscope at magnifications of x4-600 in the new laboratory and to compare them directly to the macroscopic character of deposits in the field. This enabled re-investigation of the microstratigraphy of deposits in the field, and further sampling for comparative analyses of organic and inorganic remains. Analysis of the microstratigraphy and micromorphology of deposits at Çatalhöyük is currently being conducted within the context of a three year NERC Research Project at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Dr C.A.I. French and Professor M.K. Jones, and Dr D.F. Cutler and Mr T. Lawrence, of the Plant Anatomy Section, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

I would like to illustrate two of the results from the microstratigraphic and micromorphological analyses at Çatalhöyük in this report.

The first result discussed here is the identification in thin section of a sequence of dung rich deposits in a roughly walled space in "Court 25" Level VIII/X in Area E. These deposits are exposed in the western face of Field Section 6 which was drawn and sampled in 1994 (this report, Figures 11 and 12). The sequence comprises thin interbedded lenses of orange-brown and white silt loam- sandy silt loam deposits, IOYR6/4 light yellowish brown - 10YR 6/2 light brownish grey. In thin section these deposits comprise interbedded layers of orange organic stained deposits rich in dung pellet fragments and dung derived components which include partially digested phytoliths and diatoms, and abundant spherulites which form in the gut of a range of animals during digestion, including sheep and goats, gazelle, and pigs (Brochier et al1992 and Brochier 1993) and in our reference samples cattle (Figures 13, 14, 15 and 16). Deposits rich in dung and spherulites have been identified in PPNB levels at Çayönü Tepesi in the Cell Room phase (Brochier 1993). The white lenses in thin section are extensive lenses of salt aggregates.

This sequence of deposits in Area E closely resembles modem samples from sheep and goat stables in the region of Pinarbasi and Asikli Höyük, collected by Scona Anderson, University of Sheffield, which have been studied in thin section by the NERC micromorphology project at Cambridge (Figures 17 and 18).

Deposits from the sequence in Area E, "Court" 25 were sampled for a range of comparative chemical, physical and mineralogical analyses, which should aid assessment of whether or not these deposits represent in-situ stabling within the settlement at Çatalhöyük. In particular, GC/MS analysis will be conducted by Dr R. Evershed and colleagues in order to detect any surviving traces of bile acids, sterols and coprostanols which are specific to and therefore diagnostic of different animal species.

The second new observation discussed in this report occurred during re-investigation of the microstratigraphy and micromorphology of floors in the building at the southern end of section 3, which was initially cleaned and recorded in 1993. During the last two years erosion has removed approximately 2-4cm from the face of the section and exposed more of an irregular cut which was visible in 1993. It is now clear that this cut is the edge of a large grave with approximately vertical sides which contains human bone, including foot and long bones, identified by Dr L. Martin.

This grave was cut from a level which coincides with a change in the microstratigraphic sequence and use of space from [11 domestic activities attested by thick floors and layers of occupation deposits, associated with a pot emplacement, to [2] more formal or ritual activities attested by a sequence of fine white and orange plastered floors which were kept remarkably clean, and are associated with a collapsed Bos jaw, horn cores and plastered features. This change in the use of space was first observed and recorded in 1993, and is evident both in the field and in thin section (Figures 19, 20, 21 and 22). The coincidence of the change in the microstratigraphy with the act of burial suggests the use of this building may have changed from a domestic residence to a more formal or ritual building such as an ancestral shrine after the death of human individuals, perhaps the inhabitants.

There is some evidence to suggest that the more formal or ritual activities represented by the later sequence of floors included activities related to the handling of animals, perhaps young or recently weaned lambs, within the room. Fragments of dung pellets occur sporadically both between the thinner plaster floors and in the collapsed debris on the latest floor in the more formal or ritual sequence discussed above (Figures 23 and 24). These pellets are ovoid in shape similar to sheep/goat pellets. The fragment illustrated between the plaster floors is 7.3mm long and 0.6mm in height. The pellets in the collapsed debris are up to 7.7mm long and 1.05-4.2mm in height, slightly compressed. These pellets do not contain spherulites, in contrast to those in "Court" 25. Current research on modern animals, suggests that spherulites do not occur in faecal droppings from young or recently weaned lambs (Brochier et al 1992, 55). The presence or absence of spherulites in droppings however requires further controlled and comparative modern research on both the structure and composition of dung from different animals in different environments. The presence or absence of spherulites may vary not only according to the species or age of the animal, but also according to diet, and the acidity/alkalinity of both the soils on which the animals are browsing, and the soils in which the droppings are subsequently deposited.

In some instances a thin layer of trampled fibrous occupation deposits less than 200-500um thick had accumulated on top of thin mud plaster floors in this upper phase, before the application of a white finishing coat of plaster, as in Figure 22. In other instances thin layers of occupation deposits were plastered over with white plaster, before re-plastering with mud plaster, suggesting perhaps a ritual purification of the floors after a sequence of activities. These sequences of microstratigraphic layers, however, must be, and are in the process of being, statistically compared to sequences from other contexts, before their significance can be assessed.

The detailed micromorphological descriptions and interpretations for all thin section samples from 1993 and 1994 are entered into an Access data-base which is linked to the main Çatalhöyük database, and are being prepared for publication at the end of 1995. Images of the micromorphology of deposit types will be inserted into the database.

In future excavation seasons, techniques for analysing the micromorphology of deposits as they are being excavated in the field will be explored and developed, including microscopic analysis of latex peels, small blocks of segments and thin spreads of deposits on glass slides. This will enable instant analysis of depositional components, and in the case of peels and blocks, some information on the contextual relationships between artefactual and organic remains and sediments. These analyses in the field will be verified by analysis of large block samples in large thin sections which have to be prepared in specially equipped laboratories, such as the one in Cambridge. Resin-impregnation of the samples must be done under vacuum and in fume cupboards. The resin takes six week-s to harden, to avoid distortion of the microstructure. A diamond edged, oil-cooled grinding and polishing machine with micrometric advance is needed for preparation of the large thin sections, which are 13.5 x 6.5cm in size, and 25-30pm thick.

References

Brochier, J.E. 1993. Çayönü Tepesi. Domestication, rythmes et environment au PPNB.Paleorient 19/2, 39-49.

© Çatalhöyük Research Project and individual authors, 1995