ÇATALHÖYÜK 1995 ARCHIVE REPORT

The Plant Remains, Preliminary Report 1995

Ann Butler

The first season of excavation at relatively superficial levels in both the north and east areas of the East Mound produced soil samples which inevitably were contaminated by the small rootlets of modern plants. These can disturb the original distributions of ancient plant remains, which therefore need careful and guarded interpretation.

Most of the charred plant remains have been recovered by wet-sieving,; altogether about 70 soil samples have been processed. From both excavation areas the flots retained on 250 um mesh sieves largely consist of wood charcoal and the remains of cereals, both grains and chaff.

In the preliminary analyses of material from the basal midden fill of Court 15 in the East area, einkorn and emmer wheat (Triticum monococcum L. and T. dicoccum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) appear to predominate, with lesser amounts of bread wheat (T.aestivum L.) and persian wheat (T. carthlicum Nevski). Also included are the seeds of wild plants, small-seeded legumes of Trifolieae type, such as species of medic (Medicago sp.) and trigonel (Tilgonella sp.), nutlets of a club-rush (Scirpus sp.) and achenes of at least two members of the Chenopodiaceae. The latter await confirmation of their age, since ancient and recent specimens are difficult to differentiate. In the large charcoal fraction are fragments of both tubers and rhizomes, as yet unidentified.

Few plant remains sink with the non-floating residual fraction from wet-sieving, and these residues remain on site for subsequent separation and detailed analysis. Importantly they include most of the remains of the grain legumes (pulses), mainly the cultivated field pea (Pisum sativum.), together with several related species of both cultivated and wild large-seeded legumes.

The cereals appear to have undergone different charring episodes, as indicated by the barley grains, many of which are highly vesicularised . and fragmentary, resulting from their exposure to relatively high temperatures or long periods of charring, and the very well-preserved chaff fragments, which are likely only to have survived at lower temperatures. However, the derivation of these cereal remains from more than a single original source is perhaps unremarkable given that they were recovered from midden material.

Plant remains were also recovered from the dry-sieving residues. These included barley, wheat, several species of grain legumes (pulses), mainly pea (Pisum sativum) with lentil (Lens culinaris), a species of vetchling (Lathyrus sp. of taxonomic section Lathyrus) and a wild vetch (Vicia sp.) and small tubers, tentatively identified at this stage as a club-rush (Scirpus sp.), which unusually were recovered intact.

A number of small deposits of seeds identified in situ included peas, lentils and hackberries. One small lens of plant remains, 125 ml. in volume, hand-collected from the north area, mainly consists of pulses, including pea, lentil, vetch and chickpea, with cereals and fragments of acorn cotyledon. The interpretation is uncertain: whether it represents a deposit of mixed plant foods deliberately placed in that position, a more casual mixture of resources which had fallen from a higher level, perhaps originating as separate stores, a collection of discarded refuse or indeed any other explanation is currently impossible to ascertain; however, the close association of acorn with the mixed harvested crop produce is unusual and of interest.

Plant remains recovered from East mound - 1995 season

Discussion

This season has reproduced most of the earlier findings of the 1960's. The quality of preservation is exceptional, as noted by Helbaek (1964). The cereals are represented by diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid wheats including the rare tetraploid, T. carthlicum . This wheat was also recovered from the site of Can Hasan III, a further indication of its wider past distribution; today it is restricted to an area within Trans-Caucasia (Hillman, pers.comm.). Both two and six-row barleys are also common.

The pulses are an important component. As yet a detailed examination of the peas has not been made, however the fragments of testa (seedcoat) retained on well-preserved specimens appear smooth-surfaced, a characteristic of the cultivated Pisum sativum ssp. sativum. Most of the peas from the 1965 excavation were similarly identified, although a few rough-coated specimens of the wild subspecies, Pisum sativum ssp. elatius, were also recovered (Helbaek,1970). Thus it is to be expected that both subspecies will be represented in this season's material. Lentils are quite common, in contrast with the analyses of the 1965 excavations. No criteria for the diagnosis of cultigen have been isolated in Lens (Butler,1989), but although they are small, mainly less than 3 mm in diameter, the large numbers of seeds of this taxon, together with their association with known cultigens are a strong indication that they are those of the cultivated L.culinaris. The vetch is similar to the seeds mistakenly identified in the 1965 material as Vicia noeana (Helbaek,1970), a species of Vicia in the section Hyperchusa (Kupicha,1976). These seeds, although definitely not from this taxonomic section of the genus, have not yet been identified to species.

The small-seeded legumes are an important category of plant remains from Neolithic sites. Today they are commonly used for forage and fodder, although some species are perfumes and spices. However, there is some evidence of their role as a past human food resource, as is still seen today in California (Butler, 1995).

A number of deposits of Celtis australis (hackberry) stones have been identified between layers of mudbrick, as have also been found at other Anatolian sites of similar date, these have been interpreted as derivative from a wild food resource disposed within midden material and used in walls as mortar (Nesbitt, pers.comm.). Hackberries can be eaten and there are classical reports of their use in wine (Pliny cited in Helbaek, 1970).

Perhaps the most significant plant finds this year have been those of the tubers and rhizomes, although recovered in small quantities, and as yet unidentified to species. These represent a class of food resource which is commonly assumed to have played an important role as a carbohydrate staple in ancient diet. Yet in the 1960's material, two tubers of a species of Scirpus (club-rush) were recorded virtually as an aside, with the comment that their use was unknown (Helbaek,1964). Indirect evidence of the presence of tubers in the form of environmental indications and of their use by patterns of tooth wear has rarely been supported by the plant remains themselves. This appears to have been due more to the past recovery techniques and the previous lack of recognition than to taphonomic circumstances, and highlights the value of broad-based sampling and careful processing, particularly of the charcoal fractions.

Acknowledgements

Jon Hather, Gordon Hillman and Mark Nesbitt at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, kindly assisted with the plant identifications. Gordon Hillman is also thanked for his generous release of unpublished material.

References

Butler, E.A. 1995. The small-seeded legumes: an enigmatic prehistoric resource. Acta Palaeobotanica, 35(1):105-115. Helbaek,H. 1964. First impressions of the Catal Höjyük plant husbandry. Anatolian Studies. 14:121-123.

Helbaek,H. 1970. The plant husbandry of Haçilar. In J.Mellaart (ed.). Excavations at Haçilar. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp.189-244.

Kupicha,F.K. 1976. The infrageneric structure of Vicia. Notes from the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh 34:287-326.