ÇATALHÖYÜK 2000 ARCHIVE REPORT

Human remains

İnsan Kalıntıları

Theya Molleson, Peter Andrews, Başak Boz and Lori Hager

Abstract

The main activities during the 2000 season were excavation and description of three new human burials from the BACH Area; updating the Human Remains database; description of the teeth for the entire human collection from Çatalhöyük; and description of the taphonomy of the entire human collection. For the last, a taphonomic index was devised to take account of completeness, disarticulation, breakage and surface modifications of the human skeletons.

Özeti

2000 mevsiminde yapılan ana çalışmalar BACH alanından ele geçen üç yeni gömünün kazılması ve tanımlanması; İnsan Kalıntıları veritabanının güncelleştirilmesi; Çatalhöyük’te ele geçen bütün bireylerin diş analizlerinin tamamlanması; ve bütün bireylerin tafonomi tanımlamasının yapılması şeklinde gelişmiştir. Son olarak, insan kemiklerinin bütünlüğü, eklem durumu, kırıkları ve yüzey modifikasyonlarını kapsayan bir tafonomik indeks hazırlanmıştır.

Introduction

Human Remains were excavated in both the BACH and West excavation areas during the 2000 season. But this report only considers the BACH material. Three skeletons were recovered which will be described below. In addition, we brought our laboratory analyses up to date with work on the teeth by Boz and on the state of preservation of the entire collection of human remains by Andrews. The work on the teeth is still continuing and will not be reported on here except to say that we are making the attempt to find measurements of the teeth that will distinguish between males and females.

Taphonomy

The work on the taphonomy was formalized this year to produce a taphonomy index. This is based on four aspects of the state of preservation of the human remains. On a scale of 1 to 10, from poor preservation to maximum preservation, the four aspects are skeleton completeness, breakage of bones, disarticulation, and surface modification. For example, for the first of these, skeleton completeness, a single bone or part of a bone scored 1 while a complete skeleton scored 10, with all stages in between. The four values were added together to provide a single score for the taphonomic index. This provided the basis for scoring the whole collection of human remains, and the scores were added to the Human Remains database. A close correlation was found between degree of disturbance of burials and the taphonomy score, with primary burials typically scoring between 32 and 40 out of a possible 40, primary burials disturbed while still partly articulated 24 to 25, burials disturbed more than once, 7 to 15, and secondary burials usually 28 to 29.

Three human skeletons have now been found with evidence of cutmarks or damage by other humans. The cutmarks on the atlas vertebra of skeleton 4593, burial 492 were examined for directionality of the cuts and the time that they were made. This is a headless skeleton buried on the western side of building 6, and it is almost certain that the head was originally buried with the rest of the body. It appears, moreover, that the skull was still firmly attached to the axial skeleton at the time of its removal. Initial cuts were made from the front of the neck, with the head bent backwards, and it was then twisted to the right and forwards and additional cuts made. At this point the skull was separated from the vertebrae and withdrawn from the burial pit. There are two possible scenarios accounting for the removal of the skull. One is that the lack of disturbance of the rest of the skeleton, including the presence of the board that extended up to the skull, indicates that the hole dug for extraction of the skull was very narrow. This has the implication that the position of the skull was precisely known either from memory or as a result of having been marked on the floor of the building in some way. The second scenario is that the board was placed over the body to protect it against the time when the skeleton was dug up to remove the skull. In this way, the skull might not have been pin-pointed, but a larger excavation would not have disturbed the skeleton because it was protected beneath the board. Both scenarios are highly speculative, but both imply considerable forethought at the time of burial.

The second burial with cutmarks is another headless skeleton, 1466 in burial 29, buried at the eastern end of building 1. The atlas was removed with the skull in this instance, but the axis vertebra is broken in a way suggestive of forcible removal of the skull while still in articulation with the rest of the body. There are no cut marks, but the odontoid process is broken from its base, and not so much broken as smashed, implying the application of considerable force. Even with this, however, the body must have been in an advanced state of decay for the skull to have been removed in this way, with the muscles and tendons attaching the skull and vertebrae together The process indicated here is the twisting of the skull off the vertebrae, and with the atlas remaining attached to the skull, and the axis remaining attached to the rest of the vertebral column, separation occurred at the axis-atlas articulation. The odontoid process passes superiorly into the atlas, and disarticulation by twisting at this point led to the smashing of the odontoid process. In addition to this evidence, there was found with the 1466 skeleton a small bone originally identified as animal bone but which appears to be part of the skull base or pharangeal cartilage. This bone has a chop mark about one third of the way from the broken end, and it is considered likely that this was made during the time of removal of the skull. Further work is needed to identify this bone more precisely.

The third example of a cut mark was found on one of the secondary burials in burial 31, building 1. It was on the proximal end of a humerus which was labelled skeleton 1481, but since this number applies to at least three individuals, it is better referred to by the individual number assigned to all skeletons in the Human remains database, individual 25. The cuts appear to have been made by bone implements penetrating the shoulder joint, and they may have been made during disarticulation of the skeleton. The five partial skeletons in burial 31 (not counting the single primary burial 1498) are interpreted as being the result of secondary burial because four of them consist of partial articulated vertebral columns with few limb bones. There is evidence also from individual 28 (another part of 1481 combined with skeleton 1483) of trampling marks on the surface of one of the limb bones, and this suggests exposure of the bone on the surface before burial, for such marks are unlikely to occur after burial.

All three of these instances mark the post-mortem modification of human skeletons by other humans, but in different ways. The two headless skeletons show post-mortem and post-burial removal of the skulls, for what ever purpose, but the secondary burials suggest exposure of at least five bodies on the surface, defleshing either by natural decay or by scavengers lacking the capacity to mark the bones in any way (there are no chewing marks on any of the bones). There is slight evidence of disarticulation of one of the secondary burials by human action.

Detailed description of the skeletons from the 2000 BACH excavations

The bioanthropological work in Building 3 during July-August 2000 season was carried out by Lori Hager and Başak Boz.

There are 3 individual inhumations encountered within the building. The first (F. 631) was found under the North-east platform (F. 173), and two others were found under the Central floor area (F. 648, 756). There is also large multiple burial pit, found under the north-west platform (F. 162).

Burial 631 (Figure 15) - Sk.6303

Primary burial of an adult male burial aged 40-45. It was buried under the centre of the north-east platform in building 3, aligned north to south. The skeleton is in flexed position, with the head in the south, facing east. Both arms are flexed, with the hands meeting over the head. The body slopes down to the south, so that the head is lower than the feet, but it should be noted that the surface of the platform also slopes in the same direction and to the same degree.

The teeth are fairly worn up to grade 6 (Brothwell). Calculus is in medium stage on all teeth. The maxillary teeth seem to have suffered from traumatic consequences. Pulp exposure, periodontal disease and abscesses can be seen on the teeth.

The skeleton was observed to be intact before excavation, but it fragmented into tiny pieces during excavation. Since the burial was deep, and the surfaces of the bones appear to lack any major taphonomic damage, it was not clear why the bone was so broken up. One factor that may be important is that the skeleton showed evidence of advanced osteoporosis: the bone is light in weight through loss of minerals, and the medullary cavities are wide. Also roots penetrate the insides of most of the bones, and this may have contributed to their breakage.

Burial 648 - Skeleton 6681

Primary burial of a child of 8-9 years old buried under the floor of Building 3 by the north-west(Figure 14). The burial cut is aligned west to east. The skeleton is in flexed position and lying on its left side, facing north-east with the head to the west. The skeleton is flexed with the knees drawn up to the chest. The right arm is stretched along the body with the hand resting on the pelvis. The left hand is bent 90 degrees under the body and the hand was on the left ilium. A piece of phytolith was observed around the mandible but it was not continuous and it is not possible to say whether the body was bound or not.

There were no grave goods in the burial, and no pathology was observed on he bones. The burial cut seemed to extend towards the south and it was therefore extended in this direction. Another child burial was found, but it does not seem that these two burials were contemporaneous although so far a separate cut has not been distinguished.

The burial was very shallow, with the skull close to the floor surface. Probably as a result of this there was considerable breakage of bones and some crushing of their articular ends. The right ulna has the shaft crushed and the right side of the skull is pushed in as well. Bone preservation is good, the bones with limited managanese staining and no other damage.

Burial 757 - Skeleton 6682

Primary burial of a child of about 7yrs old buried under the floor of Building 3 in the west part of the main room in front of the screen wall. It seems that the cut of the skeleton 6681 and the cut of 6682 have some kind of connection but its nature has not been discovered so far. The burial is positioned south-north with the head to the south. It is lying on its left side with head pushed down and facing north-west. The body seemed to have been pushed forward and tightly flexed so that the back of the spine can be seen. The right arm was bent 45 degrees up and the hand was curled under the chin. The left arm stretched under the body, the hand placed between the legs near the feet. There was almost no space between the legs and the body because it was so tightly flexed. The feet are next to each other. The skeleton is complete and in articulation. No pathology has been seen on the bones.

Another skeleton was found during the excavation of the edge of the cut, but it has been left for the 2001 season. It appears to be midway between 6681 and 6682, and the presence of a central cut may explain why these two burials appeared to have been connected. Its position between the other two, and the fact that it is deeper, suggests that it may have been earlier in time. There is no disturbance to 6681 and 6682, and the distance between them is too small for a later burial to have been inserted between them without some impact on them.

This burial was also very shallow, and as in 6681 this has resulted in some post-burial breakage and some crushing, particularly of the skull. Damage is much less however, and few of the bones are crushed except for the frontal/left side of the skull. There is some root damage, which is probably recent, and the bones are very friable as they dried out during excavation.

Multiple Burials under NW Platform (F162)

Features 634, 644, 647 (Units 6623 is a skeleton, 6674, 6658, 6653, 6639, 6637, 6633, 6632, 6384, 6385, 6617, 6309, 6310, 6311)(burial cuts within NW platform)

The disturbed remains of several individuals were encountered during the excavation of the NW platform (Figure 16). Few of the bones are articulated in this large, multiple burial pit; the majority show displacement from anatomical position. The burial position and orientation of the individuals could not be accurately determined due to the postmortem disturbance of the remains. Field inspection of the bones suggests a minimum number of three individuals based on the exposure of three distinct crania. Two of these individuals are juveniles; one individual is an adult. Further analysis of the skeletons will take place in the 2001 field season.

The top layer of these bones was excavated and removed to the laboratory during the 2000 field season. The lower layers of the bones were left for the 2001 season. Most of the remains of the juveniles are in the lower layers. The association of the burial pits visible in the platform floor with the actual bones remains unclear at this point.

Broken clay balls, small obsidian flakes, and faunal remains were scattered throughout the burial pit. Phytoliths were found in the levels above the large concentration of human remains. No grave goods have been found in direct association with the burials.

Figures

Listed from BACH1 Area Excavation Report

Figure 14: Neolithic double child burial (Features 648/756) in the Central Floor area

Figure 15: Neolithic burial (Feature 631) in platform F. 173

Figure 16: Neolithic group burial (Feature 634/644/647) in platform F.162