Çatalhöyük 2000 Archive Report

ÇATALHÖYÜK 2000 ARCHIVE REPORT

Introduction

Ian Hodder

For the Cambridge-based team, 2000 was the first of two study seasons. So far the project has published a volume dealing with our work from 1993-95 (On the surface Hodder 1996) and this year saw the publication of a second volume dealing with our methodology (Towards reflexive method in archaeology Hodder (ed.) 2000). Excavation took place in the North and South areas between 1995 and 1999, including six months of excavation in the South Area in 1999 (Figure 1). Excavation halted in the North Area due to the completion of the excavation of Building 5 and the placement of that building on public display, and we successfully reached the base of the mound in the South Area in 1999. We therefore reached an appropriate point to analyse and publish the large amount of excavation data that has been collected in these years from these two excavation areas. Excavations in the BACH, Summit and West Areas are continuing.

The projects publication aims extend beyond that of writing a normal site report, and we intend to represent in our publications of the site the high degree of integration and reflexivity that has gone into the excavation process. It was therefore decided to take two years to publish both something akin to a normal site report (which will be published as the first of three volumes in 2001/2) and to write two further volumes that will deal with context by context integration of data, and with integrative themes and questions. Few projects have the opportunity to take the data to a higher level of analysis, but we have decided to get together as a team for two months in the summer of 2001 at the site. This time will be spent undertaking joint analysis and writing in a fully integrated way. To reach the point where this is possible the first level of data description and analysis has to be completed and this was the main aim of the work undertaken in 2000.

Some materials had already been exported from Turkey, so that the archaeobotanists for example could spend 2000 analysing their material at locations scattered across the globe, communicating electronically. In Cambridge Shahina Farid and Craig Cessford worked with Anja Wolle and other team members on the excavation records, stratigraphy and interpretation of the two excavation areas. In the summer months, teams whose data are retained at the site or in Konya Archaeological Museum, worked in the laboratories at the site and made museum visits in order to get data ready for the higher levels of analysis next year. Other analysis included work on sourcing the obsidian used at the site. Initial results indicate that the Cappadocian sources of Gölü Dağ-east and Nenezi Dağ are the primary sources of Çatalhöyüks obsidian. A program of AMS dating based on the 1999 excavations is also in progress, these should reveal the dates of the earliest deposits encountered.

Due to the vast quantity of material gathered in the last five years of research and excavation it is not possible for all excavated deposits to be fully analysed by all specialists. The complete archaeological sequence will be published but it was necessary to define certain deposits for full analysis by all relevant specialists. The process of prioritising units (contexts), was conducted from the Cambridge office prior to the 2000 field season and involved much discussion, listing and trading, by many team members across the world, via email. A list was generated from the field priority units; these are deposits targeted during the excavation for immediate analysis in order to address specific questions (see Hodder 2000 for this process). From this list relevant team members proposed individual choices based on the unit environmental and material assemblage and a final list was generated by satisfying as many preferences as possible as well as covering contextual, spatial and temporal variation.

Some excavation and field research did take place in 2000. The BACH (Berkeley Archaeologists at Çatalhöyük) team led by Ruth Tringham and Mirjana Stevanovic continued to excavate Building 3 on the northern part of the East mound. In 2000 they continued to excavate the floors of this building and discovered several burials beneath platforms and under the central part of the house. As in the nearby Building 1, the northwest platform seemed to contain the greatest concentration of burials, and it is this platform that is surrounded in red paint. Our resident illustrator, John Swogger, describes in his archive report how he has used his drawings to help with the interpretation of the screen wall in Building 3.

Two areas on the southern part of the East mound were scraped under the supervision of Shahina Farid in preparation for anticipated excavations by a Polish team from Poznan scheduled to commence in 2001. The first area was located to investigate a feature identified earlier by remote sensing. When this area proved inappropriate for further excavation an area to the east of James Mellaarts 1960s excavations was investigated with the aim of identifying buildings from Levels I and II. Additionally a team from Minneapolis (Hemisphere Field Services) applied some of the latest remote sensing techniques to see if we could see more of the Neolithic buildings without excavation.

Excavations also took place on the Chalcolithic West Mound, this site is being excavated by a team led by Catriona Gibson, Naomi Hamilton, and Jonathan Last. Their aim in 2000 was to define the nature of buildings on this site which they achieved. They found several mudbrick walls, some plastered, and forming at least one house. As on the East mound walls seemed packed together, but the house plan was otherwise very different. In particular, the West mound house has numerous small cellular rooms, there is no evidence of the rather roomy main spaces found on the East mound. Neither is there any evidence of multiple replastering of the walls. The fills of the rooms were rich in painted pottery including some complete vessels that had been placed in the fill deposits. Some of the vessels had animal representations, confirming the pattern seen at Hacilar that the designs and motifs used on the walls of Neolithic Çatalhöyük houses were later transferred to pottery. Perhaps the most spectacular find in 2000 was made in this same West mound building. A square white plaster bowl with beautifully painted red and black geometric decoration on its exterior was recovered. When found this artefact was soft and fragile and was lifted by the conservation team.

Considerable work was carried out by Freja Evans-Swogger on the reorganisation of the finds processing system. A number of problems had developed over the years with this system and it has been helpful to rework the system in preparation for the next phase of excavation (Figure 2). The crates in the store-room were also re-catalogued to ensure that all finds are easily accessible during next years study season.

Other activities have continued at a steady pace. Under Mira Stevanovics guidance, a modern mud-brick reconstruction of a Neolithic Çatalhöyük house has reached completion (Figure 3). The bricks for the house were modelled on those found at the Neolithic site, and a flat roof with entrance from an interior ladder was put in place. Compromises had to be made for tourists, in particular, a ground-level door has been provided to facilitate access. Also the outer surfaces of the walls had to be plastered even though such external plastering is not found at the Neolithic site as walls were protected by adjacent buildings. The experimental reconstruction stands on its own, and so the external walls had to be plastered in order to prevent erosion and damage to the mud-brick. The interior of the reconstruction house will be completed in 2001 and it is expected that the building will be opened for visitors next summer.

Another important new development in our outreach activities has been to work with Zeynep Beykont on developing links with schools in the Konya area. She has been developing ideas for new curricula with the schools, and planning ways in which schoolteachers can use the site more frequently and fully. It is also hoped to work with some of our sponsors to provide computers in the local schools. Certainly there is much to do to make the site more accessible for the next generation in the region.

We were very grateful to receive the visit of İstemihan Talay, the Minister of Culture. His knowledge of and interest in the site were very apparent and he gave much encouragement to the team and the project. We also had an extended visit by the Turkish History Foundation (Türk Tarih Vakfı), which took the form of a day long seminar. In September the project provided a display and presented a series of papers for a Symposium organized during the Çumra Agricultural Festival (1.Uluslar Arası Çatalhöyük'den Günümüze Çumra Kongresi).

In 2000, we completed the building of two more laboratories with the aid of sponsorship (Figure 4). These new buildings went up during the excavation season and they will be used for faunal and conservation laboratories. In 2001 we hope to complete the seminar room/library which will be large enough to house the main digging teams.

Acknowledgements

The project works under the auspices of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and with a permit from the Ministry of Culture, General-Directorate of Monuments and Museums. We are particularly indebted to Alpay Pasinli and Roger Matthews for their help and support. Our government representatives this year were Enver Akgün and Vahap Kaya who both proved very helpful.

First of all we would like to thank Becky Coombs who as project administrator struggles tirelessly to ensure the - relatively - smooth running of the project. Secondly we would like to thank the staff at the BIAA, both in London and in Ankara, and Gina Coulthard and Gülgün Kazan in particular for their continual help and support. The project and all team members are hugely grateful to our camp mangers, Tolga Pekperdahçı and Hüsnü Tayanç for tackling the many, varied and demanding tasks in this often thankless role. We are as ever very grateful to the Konya Vali, Ahmet Kayhan. Invaluable support was given throughout the season from Osman Siviloğlu, Konya Minister of Culture, Ayhan Alp, Director of the Konya Koruma Kurulu, Konya Roleve Office, Çumra Belediye Başkan and the staff there, Çumra Kaymakam and Head of the Jandarma, Aydın Kimyonşen, Manager of Koçbank, Konya branch and all the staff, our accountant in Konya Ahmet İçyar and his staff and as ever thanks to the Director of the Konya Museums, Erdoğan Erol and all the staff at the Konya Archaeological Museum, Konya Ethnographical Museum and Konya Mevlana Museum. Many, many thanks to Asim Kaplan, from Karavan, a great friend and supporter of the project who aided us through the logistical problem of washing one of the site shelters in desperate need of maintenance, as well as always being on hand to entertain the team, the highlight of which was a Dervish event in the site Visitors Centre. The British Embassy in Ankara continues to provide support including the storage of material between seasons. In 2000 the project again benefited from the enthusiastic help provided by a number of students sent to us by Prof. Levent Zoroğlu from Selçuk University, Konya, and other Turkish universities. The project is of course as ever indebted to our site custodians Mustafa Tokyağsun and Sadettin Dural and all our local staff.

Funding for the project in 2000 has come from Foundations and Research Councils in Britain and the United States of America as well as corporate sponsorship. In Britain we would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board, British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, McDonald Institute and Isaac Newton Trust for their continued support of the Project. In America funding was received from the Flora Family Foundation and Stanford University. We would like to thank John Coker for his extremely generous donation to the project. The main corporate sponsors of the project in 2000 were KoçBank and Boeing. The Co-sponsors are Shell, GlaxoWellcome and British Airways. The long-term sponsor is Merko, and the IT sponsor is Koçsistem. Other support has been provided by Arup, Meptur, the Friends of Çatalhöyük and the Turkish Friends of Çatalhöyük led by Resit Ergener. The project in particular wishes to thank Ömer Koç for his continued support of the project in many ways.

Turkish Translations by Burcu Tung and Adnan Baysal

References

Hodder, I (ed) (1996) On the Surface Çatalhöyük 1993-95 [McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research / British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph No.22]

Hodder, I (ed) (2000) Towards Reflexive Method in Archaeology: The Example at Çatalhöyük [McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research / British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph No.28]

Figures

Figure 1: Çatalhöyük East and West Mounds showing excavation areas

Figure 2: Finds processing flowchart

Figure 3: Modern Reconstruction of a Neolithic House

Figure 4: The new lab wing completed in September 2000