ÇATALHÖYÜK 2003 ARCHIVE REPORT

WORKED BONE 2003

Nerissa Russell

During the 2003 season I recorded 143 bone artifacts from backlog and this year’s excavations, bringing the total recorded to 1042. Table 5 presents a cumulative tabulation of the bone artifacts by excavation area, not including 8 tools recorded from the Kopal trench investigating slope wash. Since the basic outlines of the worked bone assemblage have been covered in past archive reports and in the final report on Kopal, North and South bone tools recorded through 1999 (Russell in press), I will discuss only new and notable artifacts and patterns here.

Tool Types

Points
Points consistently form roughly half the assemblage in all areas. In previous years I had associated points made by heavy abrasion of the base on a distal metapodial, producing a cross section of the articulation, to be a feature that distinguished the Chalcolithic from the Neolithic periods at the site. However, material from secure contexts in the TP area, as well as less secure contexts in the 4040 Area that do not show other signs of Chalcolithic presence, now shows that this type starts to appear in the later Neolithic levels. There are in fact a few abraded-base points from Level VI and below, but in addition to being rare they are much less thoroughly abraded.

Rounded Points
Two rounded points were recovered from graves in the 4040 area that probably date to the Neolithic. Both are small tools that could be cosmetics applicators, hairpins, or pins t hold clothing. One (8840.F1) is most likely not a grave offering, as it was burnt, battered and chipped in antiquity. It has a simple shape with a rounded base and a triangular cross section. 7575.X16 is more spectacular, from a multiple burial with numerous grave goods (Fig. 45). Its base is carved into three rectangular ridges, one forming the very base. While the two ridges closest to the base are quite rectangular, the one closest to the tip is more rounded, forming an oval. The shaft areas between these are also rectangular in cross section, while beyond them toward the tip it is round. It is very finely made, and very thoroughly polished, probably partly from use, but also in manufacture. Some red pigment adheres to it, but well up the shaft rather than at the tip, so that it is not clear that it has anything to do with the use of the tool.

Figure 45: Rounded point (hairpin?) from multiple burial, 7575.X16

Blunted Points
A large antler point from the topsoil in the 4040 has a deliberately blunted tip. The surface is not very well preserved. It could have been used as a pressure flaker, but any microwear has been destroyed.

Needles
Most of the bone artifacts designated as needles are what Mellaart (1967:215) calls ‘bodkins’: flat perforated split rib tools with rounded flat tips that may be used in weaving or netting. This kind of ‘needle’ seems to disappear by the later levels. There are no needles of any kind from the West, and the only needle from TP is of a different sort, a point with a perforation on a split metapodial (7813.F460). This may indicate a change in textile technology.

Pounder
This is new type assigned to a single artifact from the West Mound, 7745.X6 (Fig. 46). Only the tip end is preserved, made on a large piece of antler beam. Careful abrasion has formed a large, round bulbous tip. The tip is somewhat worn, but lacks heavy battering. It appears to have been used like a pestle to maul soft materials without hacking them.

Figure 46: Pounder tip, 7745.X6

Hafts
Three hafts made on antler tines with a longitudinal hollow to hold another tool have now been recovered from the West Mound. One of these, 9030.X5, still has the base of an obsidian tool fixed in the hollow (Fig 47). Interestingly, both this and one of the empty hafts have hollows at both ends of the haft; the purpose of the second channel is unclear.

Figure 47: Antler tine haft with stub of obsidian tool, 9030.X5

Weight
I have tentatively designated an object (6817.X2) from the TP area as a loom or other weight. It is a cattle astragalus with a roughly rectangular hole cut diagonally through the lateral trochlea. Based on the size of the astragalus, which appears to be well within the domestic range, the artifact probably dates to a post-Neolithic period.

Spatulas
Two additional spatulas have been found since the last full bone tool archive report. 8184.X4 comes from a burial in the Bach area. It is shaped like a tiny oar, with the blade as the base and a rounded tip. It is made on a splinter of large mammal long bone, and was found with the tip sticking into a shell holding blue-green pigment. Unfortunately this tool was coated with shellac and glued to a tile before I was able to study it, so the microwear is no longer visible. Thus it is impossible to say whether it was used before deposition, for instance. Another apparent spatula (8814.X14, Fig. 48) comes from a Neolithic grave in the 4040 Area. Made on a sheep-size long bone, probably a femur, the base end is rounded and slightly bulbous while the tip is forked. Although there is not a lot of use wear, what there is indicates that the fork is the working end. The fork tips are rounded and blunt, and formed partly from porous cancellous bone so that they would not be very strong. The fork is thus unlikely to have been used to spear anything. Rather, perhaps it was used to paint parallel lines or incise them in soft substances. There are no traces of pigment on the object, but the fork end went through the flotation machine. These lines would be about 2mm wide and separated by 5mm. Mellaart (1964:103, Figure 43) found a similar fork, with the shaft incised in a spiral design, apparently in a burial. He refers to it as a “cosmetic fork”, a description that may apply to the new artifact as well.

Figure 48: Forked spatula, 8814.X14

Knucklebones
Abraded astragali, probably used as gaming or divination pieces have now been found in several contexts, all of them later than Level VI: Summit, TP, West, and two from 4040 topsoil of unknown period. The three knucklebones found in the Summit Area in earlier seasons were supplemented this year by one found in a special deposit in a platform in Building 10, together with several unworked astragali.

Beads
A single bead (8814.F1, Fig. 49)) of a new type was recovered from the same burial as the forked spatula. This tiny bead is a small carnivore (probably a fox but possibly a marten) lower third molar, pierced through the root. The base of the root has been ground off flat. There may be a bit of grinding to flatten the crown as well, but this may just be occlusal wear. This is a small round tooth with a fairly flat surface with a flat root.

Rings
Rings are found mainly in Level VI and earlier. However, two have now been recovered from later contexts. One (7446.X5) from TP is rather crudely made and differs from most of the rings in having no apparent modification of the inner and outer surfaces. A ring (7294.F98) from the West Mound, however, follows the standard Çatalhöyük manufacturing practice.

Preforms
A ring preform (8814.X1, Fig. 50) comes from the 4040 burial with the forked spatula and small bead (and also two unworked bear teeth and two stamp seals, as well as a number of stone beads), and was in clear association with a skeleton. Judging by its length, some ring blanks have probably already been removed from this segment of sheep/goat femur shaft. Two more have been marked out by scoring at one end. There is room for approximately three further rings in the unmarked shaft. Other similar preforms have been found; the placement of this one in a grave is particularly interesting. It seems to support the notion proposed earlier (Russell 2001) that people may have kept ‘ring bones’ and cut off rings at intervals, perhaps to mark life events. In this case (although certainly not always), this preform may have been sufficiently identified with the person that it was placed in the grave. The skeleton was not wearing any rings. Perhaps these had broken or been lost prior to death?

Figure 49: Bead on third molar of small carnivore, 8814.F1	Figure 50: Ring preform from burial, 8814.X1

Discussion

Partly due to excavations in later, including post-Neolithic, levels, the range of bone tool types continues to increase. Some temporal patterns are apparent within the prehistoric levels. Some changes seem to occur after roughly Level VI. Needles and rings become much less common and fishhooks disappear, while knucklebones appear. Further work in the later levels in coming years should help to clarify these trends and perhaps reveal others.

Table 5: - Tool Types by excavation Area