ÇATALHÖYÜK 2005 ARCHIVE REPORT

CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS REPORTS

Chipped stone

Tristan Carter, Stanford University, Nurcan Kayacan Istanbul University, and Marina Milić Belgrade University

Abstract

The  review of this year’s material from the 4040 Area focuses entirely on chipped stone assemblages from secure Neolithic contexts, although excavation of later/disturbed contexts invariably produced some objects of note (as with last year’s mirror from a Roman grave fill). This year’s star find was a beautiful bullet-shaped prismatic pressure-flaked blade-core from a mixed, near-surface deposit of Neolithic and Roman material. Near complete, with only its platform removed (as a core tablet for purposes of rejuvenation), the nucleus had been worked around its entire circumference with 12 blade scars visible (12357.X2).

From the South Area excavation produced 792 pieces of obsidian and ‘flint’ from 155 excavated units that contained chipped stone. 496 of the artefacts came from Building 44 and 296 from Building 56.  Only a limited amount of work was undertaken on Building 42 and the underlying deposits as this part of the site was seen to have suffered greatly from post-Neolithic animal disturbance that had served to mix the deposits by introducing later material, including Byzantine pottery.

Initial observations in the IST Area on the chipped stone industry show that the excavated area could be dated back to levels later than Level VI. The raw material used in the chipped stone industry consists of obsidian and flint, with the former used more intensively. Macroscopic examination of the obsidian suggests that it was brought to the settlement from various sources, including not only Cappadocian material, but also Eastern Anatolian.

Team Poznan [TP] excavations generated 959 pieces of chipped stone from a range of contexts, not all of them Neolithic of which 931 were obsidian and 28 ‘flint’, the latter mainly in the form of tan/brown limnic-quartzites. This season’s work provided us with our first assemblages of Level I and II date. Most of this material came from secondary contexts, specifically dump, midden and infill deposits, all of which produced much the same kind of assemblage in terms of relative density of finds.

Özet

4040 alanında bulunan bu seneye ait malzeme, Neolitik kontextler ve geçen sene bir Roma gömü dolgusunda bulunan ayna gibi, daha geç olan rahatsız edilmiş kontextlerin kazısında bulunan işlenmiş taş toplulukları üzerine yoğunlaşmıştır. Bu senenin en önemli buluntusu, karışık bir Neolitik ve Roma yüzey birikintisinde bulunan incelikle yapılmış, kurşun şekilli bıçak içidir. Sadece platformu ayrılmış olan bıçağın çekirdeğinin tüm çevresi, belirgin olan 12 bıçak izinden anlaşıldığı gibi, incelikle çalışılmıştır (12357.X2)..

Güney alanında, işlenmiş taş içeren 155 adet kazı ünitesinden, 792 adet obsidian ve çakmak taşı çıkarılmıştır.496 adet buluntu Bina 44’den gelirken, 296 adet buluntu Bina 56’dan gelmiştir. Neolitik sonrasında, birikintilere geç dönem malzemesi karışmasına neden olan (Bizans seramiği dahil) hayvan zararından büyük ölçüde nasibini alan Bina 42 ve altındaki birikintilerde sadece ufak çapta bir çalışma yapılmıştır.

İşlenmiş taş endüstrisi üzerine İST alanında yapılan ilk gözlemlemeler, kazılan alanın Tabaka VI’dan daha geçe tarihlenebileceğini gösterir. İşlenmiş taş endüstrisinde kullanılan ham malzeme obsidian ve çakmak taşı içerir (Obsidian daha fazla kullanılmıştır) Obsidian üzerinde yapılan makroskobik inceleme, malzemenin buradaki yerleşmeye bir çok farklı kaynaktan getirildiğini (sadece Kapadokya’dan değil, Doğu Anadolu’daki kaynaklardan da) önermektedir.

TP alanındaki kazılar, hepsi Neolitik olmayan, (931 adet obsidian ve 28 çakmak taşı. Çakmak taşı kahverengi limnic quartz şeklindedir) bir çok kontextden gelen 959 parça işlenmiş taş ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bu sezonda yapılan çalışmalar bize Tabaka I ve II’ ye tarihlenen ilk toplulukları verdi. Bu malzemelerin çoğu, hemen hepsi aynı yoğunlukta buluntu veren, özellikle çöplük, atık ve dolgu birikintisi olan ikinci kontextlerden geldi.

Introduction
This report represents a series of preliminary statements upon the chipped stone from 2005, discussing the material from the 4040 and South Areas, the Team Poznan [TP] excavations and the newly instigated Istanbul Area. With the latter area being opened up this summer we are delighted to welcome another new member to the chipped stone publication team, Nurcan Kayacan, who brings with her considerable experience of Anatolian Neolithic lithic technology, not least through her work at Musular (Kayacan 2000, 2003 inter alia). Beyond the fact that this report is preliminary it should be further appreciated that the three of us were working at slightly different levels of analysis and to an extent asking distinct questions. The most detailed study is offered by Milić who continued her analysis of the material from the South Summit’s Building 44, providing far more quantified data than the other reports. On the other hand, much of Kayacan’s work this summer was dedicated to ascertaining the date of the deposits being exposed, having only a limited amount of material from secure contexts generated in the last few days of the excavation, the opening weeks having invariably been spent in mixed and heavily eroded layers. Finally, Carter discusses the chipped stone from the 4040 Area, together with the first report on the material from the TP excavations at the top of the mound. It is intended that the other two members of our team, Sarah Delerue and Marcin Waś, will be rejoining us in 2006.

South 2005 - Marina Milić
This year’s work on the South chipped stone involved the continuing analysis of the Building 44 assemblage, plus a study of new material from the structure that lay beneath it, Building 56. The data and interpretations presented in this report remain preliminary as neither structure has been fully excavated. The 2005 excavation produced 792 pieces of obsidian and ‘flint’ from the 155 excavated units that contained chipped stone. Most came from fast tracked and dry sieved sampling (n=754), while 38 pieces, all obsidian, derived from heavy residue samples; 496 of the artefacts came from Building 44 and 296 from Building 56. This report considers the typological and technological characteristics of the dry-sieved and hand-picked material from 2005, together with an overall review of industries and tool types excavated from all years.

The Building 44 assemblage
The total number of chipped stone thus far collected from Building 44 (all seasons) is 1155 pieces of obsidian weighing c. 1213.25g, plus 50 pieces of flint weighing 81.93g (Table 1). The dry sieve component comprises 741 pieces of obsidian (1165.93g) and 45 pieces of flint (79.67g). The 2005 assemblage comprised 496 artefacts, 458 from dry sieve and 38 from heavy residue (Onlythedry-sievedmaterialisdiscussedtechnologicallyandOnly the dry-sieved material is discussed technologically and typologically) . As expected, obsidian represents the main raw material, with the dry sieve assemblage having 432 pieces of obsidian (94.3%) and 26 of ‘flint’ (5.7%).

Table 1: Chipped stone from Building 44 (all seasons) by raw material: number and weight of dry-sieved material

The most common debitage class is that of blades (n=285 Fig. 98), the vast majority of which can be categorized as centre blades / plein débitage (n=240, 82.2%). More than two-thirds of these blades are represented by medial sections, whereby it has not always been easy to discern the technologies responsible for their production. It would appear, however, that pressure flaking and percussion techniques were employed in tandem, on the basis of edge and dorsal scar (ir)regularity, plus the information accorded us by the bulb and bulbar scars. Characteristics common to both techniques are plain platforms, lip removal and the fact that they were knapped from unipolar cores.

While most of the Building 44 prismatic blades derive from unipolar technologies (97.8%), there are 16 blades from opposed platform (bipolar) cores, nine of which can be classified centre blades. Their average width/thickness is 1.45 • 0.36cm while the average width/thickness of unipolar plein débitage blades is 1.16 • 0.29cm (WhenallWhen all blade categories are lumped together, thewidthsrangefrom0.12-2.33cm(mean1.19cm),whiletheirthicknessthe widths range from 0.12-2.33cm (mean 1.19cm), while their thickness ranged from 0.04-2.28cm (mean 0.29cm). Most of the bipolar blades seem to have been made by percussion, with the majority retouched. Besides perforator 11662.A6, the assemblage included an end-scraper on a distal end (11608.A1), a thick side-scraper (11652.X2), plus four blades modified with denticulated, marginal and linear retouch. Finally, the assemblage also included two of the so-called ‘edge/burinated blades’, plus four blades knapped from the surface of projectiles (‘face blades’); last year’s archive report illustrated a projectile that had had a blade removed from its face (2659.A1).

The assemblage also included ten obsidian cores, nine categorized as blade-cores and one related to the manufacture of blade-like-flakes. All of the nuclei were in their final stages of reduction and/or exhausted, with most displaying slightly irregular bipolar scars indicative of percussive techniques. It appears, however, that these cores are only indicative of the last stages of what was an intensive reduction strategy. Core 11644.A52 offers us a good insight as to the overall process of the blade manufacturing sequence, its face having unipolar blade scars made by pressure-flaking technique, probably from the initial stage of reduction, while its back has opposed scars made by percussion. This suggests strongly that pressure and percussion techniques could be employed within the same reduction sequence, the cores initially worked by pressure until it was no longer possible to retain the required platform and debitage face, whereby a percussive technique was used in the final stages to maximise the number of blanks per core. The mean length of cores is only 3.08cm, width 1.58cm and thickness 0.95cm. Two-thirds of them were found in priority unit 11644, a construction deposit relating to platform F.1314 in the building’s SW corner.

It is also important to note that the Building 44 obsidian assemblage includes a number of preparation (n=14) and rejuvenation (n=22) pieces, including two core tablets. Most of rejuvenation pieces are knapped from the face of prismatic cores that were reduced by pressure techniques (**Figure 1).
Retouched material
A significant proportion of the Building 44 obsidian assemblage displays traces of modification (31.5%) and use-wear (59.6%). The wide range of retouched tools were made primarily on blades (82.7%), modified mainly with simple marginal (63.3%) and linear retouch (24.6%), together with a few denticulated pieces (2.1%), while invasive and covering retouch is largely restricted to projectiles (7.8%). There were also a significant number of backed and notched examples (Fig. 99). In 2005, four perforators were collected, one of which was made on a bipolar centre blade (11608.A1). End-scrapers and side-scrapers were usually made on big blades and large flakes (maybe on ‘quarry flakes’).

Building 44 has thus far produced 15 projectiles, six from the 2005 season. None were recovered complete, whereby it was not always possible to recognize their original form and size. Most of them have tip or tang preserved and modified with invasive and covering retouch on both faces. The original blanks for these objects and their origin is a matter of some interest. It is suggested that they are non-local products, namely the wider/thicker primary series blades of the industry whose plein débitage products are recorded in Building 44. For example, the distal end of a big blade from unit 11416, dimensions W: 1.47 • Th: 0.41cm (11416.A2) matches the average size of projectiles (W: 1.34 • Th: 0.3cm) suggesting that while the blanks for point production had been prepared outside Çatalhöyük (at the obsidian quarries) the actual shaping of the weapons happened locally, at the site.
‘Flint’
The non-obsidian component from 2005 is represented by 26 pieces, all from the dry sieve, a mere 6.01% of the overall assemblage. Virtually all of the raw materials could be described as types of limnic-quartzite, mainly tan / brown in colour, though four blades from 11644 (11644.A39, 11644.A40, 11644.A41 and 11644.A47) showed clearly that a single piece can display a range of different colours (see also the pre-formed core from 4040, below). There were also individual pieces of red (11497.X2) and green radiolarite (11466.A7).

Blades are once again the most common debitage category (n=15), ten of which can be categorized as plein débitage, their average width/thickness being 0.91 • 0,18cm, i.e. on average narrower and thinner than the obsidian centre blades. Most of blades seem to have been made by percussive techniques, with plain platforms and their lips removed, i.e. analogous to the obsidian percussion blade industry. There is no evidence for opposed platform products amongst the ‘flint’. The assemblage includes only five retouched pieces (15.4%), with a round scraper modified with marginal abrupt around its entire circumference (11644.A50); it has no parallels in the obsidian assemblage. There is also a retouched blade, flake and one blade-like-flake of red radiolarite (11497.X2).
           
A most interesting piece is a microblade of green radiolarite, modified by linear abrupt retouch into an oblique triangular microlith that came from a construction fill of platform F. 1314 (11466.A7). This distinctive piece has exact parallels (form and raw material) from Çatalhöyük’s Aceramic Neolithic levels (Level Pre-XII.B-C [Carter, Conolly and Spasojević, in press]); given that the microlith has been found in a Level IV context one cannot simply talk about it being a ‘kick up’. Instead it suggests that some of the soil being used in construction fills was introduced to the building from elsewhere, perhaps dug up on the edge of the site, hitting cultural material in the process, specifically ancient deposits (one might think of them excavating in an ‘off-site’ area such as revealed by the KOPAL trench).

Contextual data
The excavation of Building 44 in 2005 represented a continuation of last year’s work, commencing with the removal of a series of platforms and benches next to the east wall (F.1310, F.1320, F.1312, F.1321) as well as the platform situated to the south-western corner of the building (F.1314 / F.1345). Approximately one third of the material collected from 2004 came from these features. Of special interest were a series of obsidian clusters from plaster surfaces and make-up deposits within the eastern platforms F.1320 and F.1321. The assemblage from cluster (11452) situated to the north of F.1320 (mentioned in report 2004) comprised 29 objects of obsidian, from what was  described as an interface period between periods of reconstruction and re-plastering. One of the defining features of this group of obsidian is that it is made up entirely of end-products. This includes 20 pressure-flaked blades from the plein debitage, one of which was recovered complete, measuring 7.87cm long (11452.A1) plus a complete projectile point and three end-scrapers. Another complete blade of 9.65cm in length came from one of the other clusters (11458.A1).
           
In 2005 the excavation of the platforms was completed revealing some new deposits of obsidian, especially along the edges of platform F.1320. A cluster to the north and east edge of platform (11490) comprised a center blade and one preparation piece, while a cluster to the south (11492) contained three blades, including a very regular medial section of a prismatic blade measuring 7.03cm long (11492.X1). Finally, cluster (11497) included another regular and almost complete plein debitage blade 7.65cm long (11497.X1) together with one of the only non-obsidian objects found in these contexts, a retouched blade-like-flake made of red radiolarite (11497.X2). When considering platform F.1320, (11466) is significant (the make-up layer that contained cluster (11492)), as it too produced a quantity of fine blade material, together with the aforementioned green radiolarite microlith (11466.A7). To surmise, these platform deposits/clusters are almost entirely comprised of obsidian (perhaps another depositional taboo being witnessed here) characterized by their predominance of blades from the plein debitage and finished tools (c.75.%), the latter including projectile points, end-scrapers, notched and backed pieces, virtually all of which are themselves made on blades. They are also typically well-preserved, the objects being whole/near whole and fresh, likely due to a combination of them having been deposited in ‘clean’ areas of building, the fact that they seem to have been deliberately placed along the inner edges of these platforms and that they then seem to have been buried not long thereafter.

Once the platforms were removed a series of construction and infill deposits were encountered down to the original floor / basal infill surface in the central part of Building 44 (11416, 11165, 11662). These were highly productive units, generating 297 artefacts in total (147 pieces from the central area, 150 from the SW platform infill). The first impression one gains from this assemblage is its freshness and preservation, or rather its lack thereof. Almost two-thirds are described as dull, while complete pieces are only limited on flakes and non-obsidian objects. Flakes are represented by 56 examples while blades number 180, of which 154 are from the plein débitage; all were broken. The bipolar blade industry is well represented in these assemblages, with eight examples including a perforator made a centre blade (11662.A6). The same area produced a large blade, a possible projectile blank (11416.A2). These deposits contained a significant group of tools with four broken points, two perforators, two pièces esquillées and only one end-scraper (11416.A1).
           
Arguably the most significant of these deposits was (11644), a construction deposit relating to platform F.1314 in the building’s SW corner. The platform appears to have in part been constructed as a support for the later structure built on top (Building 10), comprising an L-shaped mud-brick wall bounding off a rectangular space in the SW angle of Building 44. The lowest fill of this construction – (11644) – was an artefact-rich deposit, with notable amounts of ground stone and large quantities of chipped stone (n=150), This included quantities of non-cortical flakes, a few broken blades and six obsidian cores (pressure and percussion), two-thirds of the nuclei recovered this year, one of which is aforementioned example that was reduced by both by pressure and percussion techniques (11644.A52). The range and quantity of this assemblage is quite distinct to that from the platforms and it is here that we feel we have the residue of the knapping activities that took place within Building 44. It is argued that the material accumulated at the base of the platform fill had been collected up from the main part of the building where such activities as blade production had been occurring. The under-representation of end-products is due to the fact that the blades would have been collected for consumption elsewhere, with some of them no doubt forming part of the aforementioned platform clusters. It was attempted to refit the infill and cluster assemblages but we have had no luck thus far. Moreover much of the platform fill deposit had been used, in contrast to the platform clusters that were usually made up of extremely fresh and unused pieces. In terms of what particular knapping activities were taking place within the structure, it can be seen that the Building 44 assemblage has a significant proportion of the reduction sequences relating to the unipolar prismatic blade industries. We have cores, preparation and rejuvenation pieces, plus a quantity of undiagnostic non-cortical flakes that are assumed to be related to these chaînes opératoires. At the same time, blades of initiation / lateral blades tend to be missing, as do cortical blanks, indicating that knapping commenced with part-reduced cores, the preforming of the nuclei and their initial reduction arguably occurring up at the quarries. Conversely, the larger opposed platform blade tradition seems to be represented by end-products alone (plein débitage, plus a few initial/lateral blades), suggesting their manufacture off-site, conceivably at workshops atop the sources.

IST Area 2005 -Nurcan Kayacan
The chipped stone industry of the IST Area had been evaluated by a database program developed by T. Carter, S. Delerue and M. Milić in 2004. The aim of the study of 2005 was to bring the system into effect and to transfer the former experiences into the new system. So, the differences in the raw material that were formerly studied and identified in the sites and workshops of Aşıklı Höyük, Musular and Kaletepe (all in Western Cappadocia), have been added to the system and put in practice on the material from the IST Area.  The aim in making this classification was to find an answer to the question of how the people of Çatalhöyük had chosen their raw material and whether different raw materials were involved in different chaînes opératoires. In addition, the focus of this year’s study was to understand the IST Area in horizontal and vertical contexts.

Raw Material
Raw material classifications have been applied on the obsidian of the IST Area macroscopically. At this stage the classifications are detailed, with 16 variants of obsidian determined (some of the distinctions being quite subtle). It is anticipated that some of these groups will be lumped when we have characterized representative samples using chemical analysis. A general result of this study was to confirm that the people of Çatalhöyük used multiple sources, primarily Nenezi and Göllü Dağ in southern Cappadocia (cf. Carter, Bressy and Poupeau 2001; Carter et al, in press). However, two obsidian pieces, one from the surface and another one from (11812), were visually similar to Eastern Anatolian raw materials.  The same type of obsidian was observed in Level VII among the material from Mellaart’s excavations. The existence of this material in such a small group and in three different contexts is striking ThisisinadditiontoabladecorefromtheWestMoundconsidered–onmacroscopicThis is in addition to a blade core from the West Mound considered – on macroscopic examination alone – to be made of obsidian from one of the Lake Van sources (S. Delerue, pers. comm.).

In the 2005 season, 1477 pieces of chipped stone from 26 units were studied, of which  555 came from fast track, 22 of them from dry sieving, and 900 of them were collected by flotation methods (Table 2). Since it was excavated for the first time, a number of the IST Area’s units from this season consisted of surface material (e.g. 11812, 11848, 11858 and 11878); the material was thus documented only by counting and weighing. There were also some intrusive pits that cut the upper levels from the top. The contents of these pits (units 11850, 11852, 11854, 11857, 11883 and 11889), were also documented by counting and weighing.

Table 2 - The material collected from 26 units.

The material from (11855, 11859, 11874) and (11892), belonged to an open area, a total of 179 pieces from fast track and dry sieving, plus 135 from floatation. The fast track and dry sieved assemblage is dominated by centre blades (59.2% [Table 3]). There were also 31 tools, 27 of which were made on blades. Seven of these tools are points, two of them are carving tools, and the others are retouched blades. The remaining four tools were made on flakes, two of them scrapers, one a splintered piece (pièce esquillée) and the other one a retouched flake.

The material collected by flotation was divided into two groups - chips and fragments - in order to understand their function. As a result of this study, it has been understood that the group that came from floatation consists of 49 chips. When one thinks that thousands of chips are to be scattered during the production of a tool - knapping an obsidian block - it would be more realistic to think that this place was not a knapping area (the original idea during the excavation). The exchange of ideas with the field team has encouraged us to think of the area as eroded (M. Özbaşaran pers. comm.) with the chips moved and transported by this erosion.  Given obsidian’s fragility, one could easily envisage it having been moved and broken (to 86 pieces) by natural causes.

Table 3 - Technological data of units 11855, 11859, 11874 and 11892.

Seventy pieces of chipped stone from (11863) and (11893) were also studied, of which 68 were obsidian, plus two flint flakes (Table 4). The obsidian is comprised of 68 blades (54.4%) and 33.8 % of them are flakes. The material included nine retouched blades, two retouched flakes and one splintered piece.

Table 4 - Technological data of units 11863 and 11891.

Space 252: (11864, 11865, 11867) produced a total of 40 pieces from fast track and dry sieving, plus 25 pieces from flotation (Table 5). Aside from one flint flake the material was comprised entirely of obsidian. Of this, 39 are blades (59%) and 33% of them are flakes. Two blades and one flake had been retouched. Of the 25 pieces from flotation, 17 pieces were fragments, while eight pieces were chips.

Only two obsidian blades came from (11860), one retouched, while (11862) produced 107 pieces from fast track and dry sieve (Table 6), all obsidian aside from a single flint flake. Just under two thirds of the assemblage is made up of blades (59.4%), the remainder flakes (35.8%); in addition, there were two points and seven retouched blades and one semi round scraper was found. Of the 64 pieces from flotation, 37 pieces were fragments, while 27 pieces were chips.

(12400) is a cluster consisting of six pieces of chipped stone, with two blades, two obsidian fragments and two flint flakes; they do not form a technologically or typologically coherent group.

Table 5 - Space 252: technological data of units 11864, 11865 and 11867

Table 6- Technological data of unit 11862
IST Area 2005 – Conclusions
From a technological point of view the material of the IST Area indicates that there is a blade industry in this area. Previous studies have demonstrated that blade technology shows a significant increase after Level VI at the site (Conolly 1999, 75), whereby this year’s IST Area can be dated either to Level VI or later phases. The chipped stone analysis focused on five different contexts, and the remainder of the material was not studied as it derived from surface contexts. When we consider the material technologically from these five contexts, it is seen that prismatic blade production from unipolar technologies is dominant. However, the knapping chronology and the raw material usage economy of this technology will be clarified by further studies in the following years. Points, retouched blades and flakes, scrapers, splintered pieces and carving tools were identified by typological analysis. However these results do not yet clearly indicate the function of the spaces investigated.

With regard to the variety of raw materials in this area, it appears that obsidian was supplied from the southern Cappadocian sources of Nenezi and Göllü Dağ. Of great interest, is that an obsidian type similar to the Eastern Anatolian obsidian was recognized in this area (yet to be proven by chemical analysis). This data forces us to ask in what form did these various obsidians arrive at the site and can we witness a preference of the raw material depending on the levels and/or technology? In the following years we aim to clarify these questions as part of the larger obsidian sourcing programme at the site (cf. Carter et al, in press).

Team Poznan – Tristan Carter
The 2005 Team Poznan [TP] excavations generated 959 pieces of chipped stone from a range of contexts, not all of them Neolithic (see below), of which 931 were obsidian and 28 ‘flint’ (Table 7), the latter mainly in the form of tan/brown limnic-quartzites. This season’s work provided us with our first assemblages of Level I and II date. Most of this material came from secondary contexts, specifically dump, midden and infill deposits, all of which produced much the same kind of assemblage in terms of relative density of finds (**Figure 4), its overall freshness (a few worn/scratched pieces) and the largely fragmentary state of individual pieces (only smaller, sturdier blanks being recovered complete).

Table 7: Chipped stone from TP excavations 2005 by raw material and sample (data to be treated with care as derives all contexts, both Neolithic and post-Neolithic).

Other types of feature included a fill (11740) surrounding a cluster of human burials in Space 248; the 101 litres of dry sieved soil from the deposit produced only seven pieces of obsidian. Five were broken prismatic blades, the products of more than one knapping tradition; all had been used while four were retouched. One of the blades is particularly wide (2.53cm) and appears to come from an opposed platform (bipolar) technology. There was also a, non-cortical flake (used), plus a broken blade-like flake (unused). While the implements seem to display a high incidence of use and retouch, neither their state, nor form is suggestive of grave goods per se; instead the material is considered to have been redeposited from the midden that the burials were cut into.

Of particular interest was our first glimpse at an ‘ashy rake-out’ deposit from the uppermost strata, specifically (12237) of Level I date (Table 8). Our main interest in studying this deposit (it was prioritized) was due to the fact that these contexts were commonly some of the most productive units encountered within the buildings of the South Area (Levels X-VII). High quantities of obsidian microdebitage represent a core-component of those artefact rich deposits that comprise these structures’ ‘dirty areas’, intermixed with ash, charcoal, other botanical material, fragments of bone from food and craft processing located next to the ovens and fire installations. However, the ashy-rakeout from TP was something of a disappointment when contrasted with these earlier examples, producing only 32 pieces of obsidian from 21 litres of soil (>1mm, >2mm and >4mm samples combined [Table 9]). Indeed, the unit was not even particularly productive in the context of the other Neolithic deposits excavated by TP this season (**Figure 5). With regard to the samples from the >1mm and >2mm meshes, the unit was either poorer than most other units from TP this year or in the mid-range; it is only the >4mm sample that is notably productive. This is the opposite of what one tends to find with ashy-rakeout assemblages in the South Area, where the tiny shatter from knapping activities predominates, often comprising scores of pieces, sometimes in the hundreds (As with some of Building 17’s ashy-rakeouts, most notably units 5021 and 5041). In terms of the objects themselves, the >4mm sample included fragmentary pressure-flaked blades, a reduced/reworked thick (non-locally made) blade with remnant natural surface (a quarry product?), and a series of small and relatively fresh flakes. Overall the assemblage is structurally quite comparable to those from other types of contexts encountered this year.

Table 8: Quantity of obsidian recovered from heavy residue sample, unit 12237 (Level 1).

Table 9: Quantities of obsidian from bin fill units within F.2004.

While we presently only have a single example of an ashy rakeout deposit from these upper strata, I suggest that the data from (12237) represents evidence for the radical reorganization of chipped stone production at Çatalhöyük in the latter part of the Early Neolithic sequence. It has already been suggested by Conolly (1999) that post Level VIB the working of obsidian became a far more exclusive affair than before, concentrated amongst only a few of the structures, as opposed to the building-by-building level of production we witnessed in Levels X-VII during 1995-99 (Carter, Conolly and Spasojević in press). Unfortunately these data exist in isolation; it is frustrating that we have yet to encounter any clear ashy-rakeout deposits from the 4040 Area to investigate the question more generally in a ‘post-Level VI’ context. It is hoped that the situation will be rectified in the 2006 season.

The TP chipped stone - technology and typology
The obsidian assemblages from the TP Area (Levels I-II) are typical of what one finds at Çatalhöyük during the latter part of the Early Neolithic sequence (ThedistinctionallegedlyappearingpostLevelVIBaccordingto The distinction allegedly appearing post Level VIB according to Conolly (1999)),i.e.dominatedbyprismaticbladesandtheirrelatedproductiondebris.MostoftheTPblades, i.e. dominated by prismatic blades and their related production debris. Most of the TP blades appear to be pressure-flaked, quite narrow and originally c.6cm long, though there are also some notably wider products that likely derived from a different pressure-flaked tradition. There are also a few blades from a skilled percussive technique. Common to all of these blade technologies is the fact that they employed single platform cores [unipolar] and recurrently cleaned the core’s platform/lip overhangs by flaking – as attested by the fact that the proximal sections of virtually all of these blades have their lips removed. Thus we have evidence for parallel modes of knapping, albeit sharing some common technical mechanisms, the inference being that these may have all been locally performed industries. The reasons these blade traditions existed in tandem is an intriguing one that requires the team’s consideration between now and the next publication.  In turn, there are a few notably wider obsidian blades that likely come by from an opposed platform [bipolar] technology (e.g. 12200.A13, some 2.36cm wide), as attested previously in Level II contexts by Bialor (1962, fig. **12:5). Finally, the TP material from 2005 also included one of our burin spalls / ‘edge blades’ (12200.A36), (Industry6intheupcomingreport–Carter,Industry 6 in the upcoming report – Carter, Conolly and Spasojević in press). i.e. a linear blank knapped from the edge of a retouched implement (usually the margin of a projectile, sometimes a scraper). This rather rare practice is attested in assemblages from the earliest levels at the site; it is uncertain at present as to whether this piece from TP indicates that the ‘industry’ continues throughout the East mound sequence. The habit of reducing / reworking projectiles receives further discussion at the end of this report.

The existence of parallel blade traditions, with pressure-flaking techniques and percussion products existing in parallel is not something we uniquely associate with the Level I-II assemblages of TP; indeed it appears to be a common feature of our post-Level VIB material (see below). Some distinctive features of these periods might be suggested, however. Firstly, pressure-flaked products seem to dominate these assemblages, with percussion products rarer than before. Secondly, a Level I pit produced the first genuine crested blades I have ever seen at Çatalhöyük (12200.A9); perhaps here we have evidence for a distinct Level I-II mode of core preparation/blade initiation within a pressure-flaked process.

Retouched tools seem to be relatively rare within the Level I-II assemblages; where attested, they - unsurprisingly – are made on blades, usually modified by simple linear retouch, with a few notched, denticulated, or backed pieces. Flake tools are even fewer, with a single scraper made on a part-cortical flake from a Level II context (12262.A1). Perhaps most surprising, is the fact that projectiles are virtually unknown from the 2005 TP assemblages, with a single, much reduced medial section of a bifacial point from floor layer (10977).

Turning to the Level I-II ‘flint’ assemblage, the material was dominated by a range of limnic-quartzites, usually tan/brown in colour. The assemblage includes a few narrow, unipolar prismatic blades, likely the product of a percussive technique; there are also a few mainly non-cortical flakes of the same raw material that conceivably relate to the on-site manufacture of these products. The assemblage lacks cores and produced only a single piece of limnic-quartzite from heavy residue, indicating that while the prismatic blades may have been produced on-site at this time, there is little evidence for knapping within those spaces investigated this year – unless one envisages the removal of blades from a fully prepared and part-worked core (though even this should generate more shatter). The assemblage also included one larger limnic-quartzite blade measuring 6.47cm long that relates to a different tradition, perhaps non-local; the piece had been notched and backed and was heavily burnt.

Once again the TP excavations produced a not inconsiderably quantity of chipped stone from mixed and post-Neolithic deposits, material that provides us with a source of frustration and very little else. Invariably one of our nicest individual objects came from just such a context, namely the hilt of a dagger made from a large of tan limnic-quartzite prismatic blade (12203.X1) from the fill of a Byzantine grave. The blade had been shaped with steep retouch along the edges and around the base, while its middle ridges and central dorsal scar seem to have been deliberately smoothed / polished. Daggers are rare at Çatalhöyük, produced on non-local blades, whose shaping often involved the time-consuming and delicate process of bifacial pressure-flaked retouch; as such these implements are considered prestige goods of their era, no doubt intended for display as much as use. The polished surface of the blade is interesting, as it suggests that the dagger had been in circulation for a long time, the polish likely a result of its contact with a leather cover (cf. Grace 1990), i.e. from being taken out to be brandished/used and then re-sheathed on many an occasion. Parallels for this dagger are known from Levels VI and VIII (Mellaart 1963, 99, pl. XXVII,a, 1964, Figs. 46, 52,16), while the most recent excavations produced a bifacially worked example from the BACH excavations of Building 3 (Conolly 1997).
Summary of the TP Level I-II assemblage (2005)
In keeping with the chipped stone assemblages from every other level at Çatalhöyük obsidian is the dominant raw material from the Level I-II deposits thus far excavated (Table 7). In turn, the material includes precious little cortical debris indicating that the community was not in the habit of procuring raw nodules. As with the post-VIB assemblages from elsewhere on the site, prismatic blade industries dominate, with a number of traditions existing in tandem, including both pressure-flaked and percussion technologies, primarily from unipolar cores with the distinctive practice of lip removal by flaking. We also have a number of core-tablets - the distinctive rejuvenation pieces that are also known from later Early Neolithic assemblages elsewhere on the site.

Where the TP assemblages seem to differ from the later material in the 4040 Area is that pressure-flaking seems to have a more dominant role in blade production, with fewer diagnostic percussion products. The pressure-flaked tradition(s) of Level I-II also may have involved the process of cresting to initiate blade removal from the core; this is the first time that this mechanism has been seen by the author at the site and may be diagnostic of the uppermost levels. In turn, while opposed platform [bipolar] products were always a minority component of the post-VIB assemblages, they seem to be even less common in Level I-II contexts. Moreover, we seem to have fewer retouched pieces and a more limited repertoire of retouched tools, with a virtual absence of points and scrapers, in marked contrast to the 4040 assemblages of the past two years which have produced significant numbers of projectiles (see below).

This year’s work in the TP Area has also been important for providing data that suggests a distinct spatial organization of production to that witnessed in pre-Level VIB structures (the intervening levels remaining something of a mystery at present). While the TP obsidian included a few cores, mainly in an exhausted state, we have little indication that blade manufacture was occurring in that part of the building that we have previously associated with production, i.e. the area around the ovens and fire installations. While quantities of obsidian were recovered from each of the heavy residue samples from the Level I ashy-rakeout (12237), the amounts involved were not dissimilar to those from other deposits (infill, midden etc.) and significantly less than commonly witnessed in earlier ashy-rakeouts.

In summing up this year’s report on the TP a cautionary note is warranted, as it remains that this part of the site has been heavily truncated by later activities (not least human burials) and the scale and range of the Neolithic deposits thus far encountered is relatively limited. The ashy-rakeout mentioned above is the sole example of this kind of deposit we have from this area, nor do we have any comparanda from the 4040 Area at present. Similarly our apparent lack of projectiles might reflect a bias in the archaeological record, i.e. maybe we have been digging in the wrong places (of this I am less sure). We look forward to next year’s work with the hope that some of these issues may be resolved.
The South Area – Tristan Carter
While work in the South Area in 2005 saw the completion of Building 42 and the opening up of Level V features, the archaeology of this part of the site was seen to have suffered greatly from post-Neolithic animal disturbance that had served to mix the deposits by introducing later material, including Byzantine pottery. Thus, only a limited amount of work was undertaken on what were quite often large assemblages of chipped stone, the badger burrows having dug into artefact rich midden deposits.

Building 42, Space 202
The excavation of Building 42, a Level IV structure first exposed in 2004 was completed this season; the chipped stone from these remnant units essentially replicated that generated the previous year. One piece of note was a mid-segment of a unifacially retouched projectile made on a blade that had been reduced after having broken, with a blank removed from its dorsal surface (11351.A1).
Space 259
Space 259 is the midden east of Building 42 (Space 202), of later date, excavated as a stratified series of five units (from top to bottom: 11355, 11356, 11358-11360). The fast track sampling strategy, a combination of hand-picking and 30 liter dry sieve samples, reduced what are likely to have been quite artifact-rich contexts to a relatively small total of 81 pieces of chipped stone. Interestingly the material was comprised entirely of obsidian (with no ‘flint’) that typically for these secondary contexts was usually recovered in a fragmentary but often quite fresh state. As with the Building 42 material, the midden assemblages were dominated by prismatic blades produced by both pressure-flaked and percussive technologies; both traditions primarily exploited unipolar cores and removed the platform lip by flaking. The relatively small proportion of flakes from these assemblages might suggest that these middens represent, for the most part, accumulations of household implements, rather than knapping debris. However, the data have to be treated with caution as we do not yet have the heavy residue samples from these units.

The majority of the blades can be classified as true end-products (centre blades from the plein débitage), with only a very few examples relating to the stages of initiation (with part-cortical surfaces) and/or rejuvenation (one having bipolar scars from the nucleus having been inverted at a late stage of reduction [11360.A16]). A number of the blades (both pressure and percussion technologies) had been modified, almost exclusively in the form of simple linear retouch along a margin. There was, however, the medial section of a much thicker single ridged blade (the kind one associates with projectile manufacture) with limited semi-abrupt retouch bifacial retouch along margins (11355.A16), the piece is almost certainly a broken point, akin to the example from the bin in 4040’s Building 52 (see below).
Space 260
Space 260 represents the midden under Building 42 and Space 259; unfortunately it had suffered considerable post-Neolithic disturbance in the form of a large animal burrow which has mixed the deposits. As such, there is little that we can do with this material aside from note that it produced nothing that was not represented elsewhere in the South Area this year.
Building 53, Spaces 257 and 272
Much of the archaeology of this Level V(?) structure and related midden deposits had similarly suffered considerably from the animal burrowing. (11391) (Space 257) was undisturbed room fill, producing three exhausted blade-cores, a ‘face blade’ from a projectile (11391.A17), an interesting large thinning flake (11391.A2) and the usual selection of centre blades. There was also a small quantity of chipped stone from undisturbed contexts in Space 272, with the mid-section of a bifacial projectile (11396.A1) and a square pièce esquillée made on what might be the mid section of a wide biface (11398.A1) being the only objects above and beyond the usual blade material.
Space 261
Space 261 comprises a series of three midden deposits (11370, 11377 and 11379) located east of Building 53. The assemblages were all quite typical of midden material in terms of their structural variability, breakage and surface condition. While there were a few exhausted blade-cores and quantities of non-cortical flakes, the remainder of the material was made up of prismatic blades from both pressure (dominant) and percussion technologies (mainly plein débitage with lip removal the norm). Typically only a minority of these blades were modified, usually with simple linear retouch, though there was also a notch (11370.A70), a possible denticulate (11370.A32) and one with direct and inverse backing (11370.A45).

There were also a handful of notably wider blades, usually retouched; a proportion, if not all of these products derive from a non-local opposed platform industry, though not every piece displays bipolar dorsal scars. One had been modified into an end/side-scraper (11379.A1), while another had been reduced as a pièce esquillée (11370.A5). It is these imported blades that tend to form the blanks for projectiles, of which there are a number of examples (in contrast to the midden of Space 259). They included a complete, fresh and unused example of a type well known from Levels V-VI (Bialor 1962, figs. 3,1 & 5,1) (TheTeamIstanbulareaalsoproducedaverygoodThe Team Istanbul area also produced a very good parallel for this piece (see Kayacan, this report);madeonaprismaticbladeandmeasuring7.94cmlong,withfine; made on a prismatic blade and measuring 7.94cm long, with fine covering retouch on both faces (11370.X1). Most of these points, where such information can be discerned, appear to have been bifacial, at least one of which had a tang (11377.A31), plus fragments of two others (11377.A40 and 11370.A93). The assemblages from Space 261 also produced a bifacial point had blades flaked from both faces (11377.A6), plus two of the related ‘projectile face blades’, one almost complete example measuring 2.81cm long (11370.A84). There were also two ‘edge blades’, one knapped from what appeared to be a scraper (11377.A22), a mode of reduction well attested in the site’s Aceramic strata, but quite rare in later levels.

The final piece worthy of note from Space 261 is a possible fragment of a side-scraper/quarry flake (11370.A18), while the extremely small ‘flint’ component included a burnt fragment of a relatively large ?tan limnic-quartzite blade that had been backed on one edge and had linear retouch on the opposite margin (11377.A77).
The 4040 Area – Tristan Carter
While the following review of this year’s material from the 4040 Area focuses entirely on chipped stone assemblages from secure Neolithic contexts, excavation of later / disturbed contexts invariably produced some objects of note (as with last year’s mirror from a Roman grave fill). This year’s star find was a beautiful bullet-shaped prismatic pressure-flaked blade-core from a mixed, near-surface deposit of Neolithic and Roman material. Near complete, with only its platform removed (as a core tablet for purposes of rejuvenation), the nucleus had been worked around its entire circumference with 12 blade scars visible (12357.X2). Measuring 10.49 • 1.91 • 1.41cm, it weighs 39.45g. Originally it would no doubt have exceeded 11cm in length, thus making it directly comparable to a group of four bullet cores from Level V’s House 7, that ranged between 10.7 and 12.2cm long (Bialor 1962, 86, fig. 4,1-4).
Building 52 (Spaces 91, 93 and 94)
The building located towards the NW extension of the 4040 excavation area, appears to have been an important structure, as evidenced partly by its size and the elaborate series of bucrania set into a bench along the western wall of Space 94. It was destroyed by fire – possibly intentionally – with the contents of the bins in its northern room (Space 93) preserved in the process. After the fire a new structure (Building 51) was built over the top of the NE part, whereby we lack much of the fill associated with Building 52 and have yet to expose much of its floor surface (and likely area of fire installations etc.). This may help to explain why there is so little chipped stone currently associated with the building. 
Space 93
The various fill deposits from this room were not particularly productive with regard to chipped stone. The main fill itself produced the proximal section of a large lateral prismatic blade (2.21cm wide); the lip is removed by flaking and has clear use wear (10285.A1), while 10304 generated a broken non-cortical flake, plus a 7.5cm long lateral blade of uncertain technology (10304.X1).

It was the bin fills that produced the most significant – and contentious – chipped stone assemblages. Most of these units produced very little obsidian (Table 4,*** Figure 6)( NB - the anomalous quantities from 11911 #4 is probably a result of skewed data because the sample size was so small (0.5L),inkeepingwithwhatwehave, in keeping with what we have come to expect from Çatalhöyük, i.e. bins are not places we associate with chipped stone – they do not store the material, nor do they tend to use or work obsidian/flint in the vicinity of these features. Usually any obsidian that is recovered from bins is interpreted as being a general ‘background noise’ within the general infill which can usually be seen to be directly comparable to the levels of obsidian in surrounding infill.

The first bin (F.2002) contained the only fill (11910) that produced obsidian as a hand-picked sample, with 10 pieces, something of an anomaly in the context of the low quantity of material in the surrounding matrices. The material itself comprised four quite fresh non-cortical flakes, plus three blades: a complete and unused blade (3.52cm long) of slightly irregular form (11910.A1), an irregular remnant crested blade (11910.A3), the distal section of a slightly irregular form (11910.A2). Far more significant, however, was the remains of a bifacial, tanged projectile (missing its upper third) measuring 4.91 • 2.05 • 0.96cm (11910.A10). The point has good parallels from Mellaart’s Level VI contexts (Bialor 1962, fig. 3,2). There is also a flake that had been knapped from the face of a retouched implement (11910.A12), possibly a projectile, though it did not join the aforementioned example.

While the main fill of the next bin (F.2003) was typically unproductive, with only a small, fresh blade-like flake (10284.A1), it did contain a cluster of objects in a distinct matrix (10292). The finds included a piece of antler, a round pebble and other stone fragments, plus a 3.98cm used pressure-flaked obsidian blade (proximal section) laying lengthwise under the antler (10292.X3).

It was the third bin (F.2004), however, that produced the finds of greatest interest for us. While the uppermost fill (11904) contained virtually no obsidian (one tiny flake from the >1mm sample) it did produce the remains of a wild pig skull that appears to have been deliberately placed here (see arguments elsewhere in the 2005 Archive Report by excavator and faunal team). In contrast, the lowest bin fill (11907) produced three pieces of hand picked obsidian, two non-cortical flakes (both used) plus a very fine, complete – but used – tanged projectile measuring 8.72 • 2.76 • 1.34cm (11907.X7). The projectile essentially has the form of a Byblos point, made on a large prismatic blade (?bipolar), almost certainly a non-local product, probably from a Nenezi Dağ workshop. The ventral surface is 90% covered by invasive retouch while only the dorsal surface of the tang and tip is retouched. There are good parallels for such points from Level VI in the 1960’s excavations (Bialor 1962, fig. 3, 8-9).

The inclusion of a fine projectile in a bin fill is an extremely rare phenomenon and deserves further comment. I would argue that the piece was deliberately placed in the feature as part of the activities (rituals) surrounding the abandonment of the house. My reasons for this are as follows:

Projectiles are generally the kind of objects that one sees being deposited in ‘interesting’ ways at the site.
We have already established that projectiles were recurrently employed in abandonment rituals – there are now a number of instances where used projectiles have been recovered from the infill of post-holes (post-retrieval pits), specifically the central post-hole on the western wall, i.e. they took out the post and then placed a used arrowhead into the hole before backfilling  ExampleshavebeendocumentedinLevelX’sBuilding18,LevelIX’sBuildings2Examples have been documented in Level X’s Building 18, Level IX’s Buildings 2 and 17, Level VIII’s Building 43 and Level VII/VI’s Building 1 – see Carter, Conolly and Spasojević, in press).
We also have one other example of a chipped stone implement being placed into a bin as part of an abandonment ritual, specifically Level IX’s Building 18 (South Area), where an ochre-stained finely worked perforator made from a prismatic blade of striped brown/white limnic-quartzite (4671.X1) was placed into bin F.515.
One further notes the projectile from the first bin (F.2002), that while only two-thirds complete (its point missing, possibly lost through use-impact) and typologically distinct to that from 11907 (with covering bifacial retouch), offers a depositional parallel, i.e., it too may have been placed into the bin as part of an abandonment ritual.

The only other possibly relevant example involving obsidian and bin-fills / abandonment processes comes from last year in the 4040 Area in Space 100 (Building 49). Here we had a series of bins along the western wall containing distinct fills – with (7954) producing a ‘background noise’ of obsidian (i.e. the same amount as the general room fill), while (7957) contained a figurine cache and three to four times the amount of obsidian, a density comparable to some of the richest midden deposits dug in the 4040 Area last year. The objects themselves, however, did not seem that significant, i.e. they do not represent a direct parallel to the 11907 assemblage.

To conclude, I would argue against the building having burnt down accidentally and instead claim that what we are seeing here is a different type of abandonment process  to that witnessed in the first half of the Early Neolithic sequence at Çatalhöyük, that involved leaving (placing) certain objects within the structure before setting fire to it.

Space 94
Space 94, the western room of Building 52 (south of Space 93) with the bucrania set into the bench was relatively unproductive with regard to chipped stone, with only a few blades from (10281), the collapse associated with the fire destruction, including unipolar pressure-flaked products and the medial segment of a fine bipolar blade with opposing two elongated notches (10281.A1). The contents of another room fill context (10287) were all quite scrappy, with a number of non-cortical flakes (one a pièce esquillée [10287.A7]), a part-cortical percussion blade (10287.A1), a possible thinning flake (10287.A3), a flake off the face of a much reduced blade core (10287.A2), and what appears to be a small and highly exhausted core / pièce esquillée (10287.A8). In turn, the lower room fill (11928) generated only three pieces of obsidian, including two medial center blades from a pressure-flaked technology, one with linear retouch (11928.A2), while the thin channel of burnt room fill running N-S between edge of platform and the later (west) wall of Building 51 (11984) contained only five non-cortical flakes and one slightly irregular blade. From the floor itself – or rather its last use pre-infilling – there was only one piece of obsidian albeit a very interesting one, namely a large non-cortical flake (7.71 x 6.13 x 2.08cm [10299.X4]) that may be a core platform preparation piece relating to the non-local opposed platform (naviform) blade technology of the Nenezi Dağ workshop(s). This is the kind of object that would not be out of place in a hoard context; unfortunately the 4040 excavations have yet to encounter any hoards.

Space 254
Space 254 is potentially the southernmost extension of Building 52, though this has to be ascertained in 2006. Of great interest is (10342), a cluster of objects from room fill (10312), a fantastic set of material including a huge limnic-quartzite part-cortical blade (from a tabular nodule), over 15cm long, retouched along the margins, with slight traces of sickle gloss along its straight edge (10342.X1). With its part-cortical surface the piece can be classified as an initial series blade, knapped by a percussive technique from a single platform core. The smoothing of the dorsal ridges suggests is either the result of it having been sheathed (the polish coming from its contact with the leather) and/or being in circulation for a relatively long amount of time. This huge blade was found alongside six complete obsidian projectiles, of different forms, each of which has a direct parallel from Level VI (Bialor 1962). One is a slightly longer version of the type seen in the bin of nearby Building 52 (11907.X7, see above), i.e. with only the tang and tip retouched on the dorsal surface but having most of ventral surface covered; it measures 10.17cm long, is unused and is made on a bipolar blade, almost certainly of Nenezi Dağ obsidian (10342.X2). The second point is similar in terms of retouch cover but lacks the tang; it measures 11.01cm long, is unused and made – once again - on a bipolar blade, likely from a Nenezi Dağ workshop (10342.X3) (OnerecallsthecacheOne recalls the cache of bipolar / naviform blades from Building 1 of similar scale and sourced to Nenezi Dağ(CarterDağ (Carter et al, in press), pieces that would have almost certainly been made into projectile had they ever been retrieved, should retrieval have ever been the intention of those who interred them in the first place (Carter in press; Conolly 2003). The most exquisite example is the longest (11.53cm), covered in very fine retouch and again unused; while the blade used to make the point also seems to be a Nenezi Dağ product, its dorsal scars have been obscured whereby it is impossible to state that it derived from a naviform core (10342.X4). The fourth and fifth pieces are both tanged and have bifacial covering retouch (measuring 7.8cm and 6.33cm); they are also missing their tips, though it is uncertain as to whether this was during use or when the assemblage was unfortunately hit by a pick (10342.X5 and 10342.X6). The final point has a slightly strange top-heavy form; it is also missing its tip (modern damage) and measures 8.46cm (10342.X7).

The final piece of note from Space 254 is the tip / upper body of another fine bifacial projectile, which also has the clear traces of having a ‘face blade’ removed from its surface (10327.A1).

Building 51 (Space 98)
Building 51 is the structure built atop the NE corner of Building 52 after the latter was destroyed by fire; it should date to Level V if Building 52 is Level VI. Very little chipped stone is thus far associated with the building; of note, however, is a fragmentary projectile preform (10310.A1), made on a large blade (3.01cm wide), with invasive – but not covering – retouch on both faces. Complete examples of these objects have been found in hoard contexts before now. Parallels for these biconvex pieces have until this point only derived from later contexts, notably Levels IV and III (Bialor 1962, 86, fig. 6,20 and 95 fig. 9). There was also a tip of a fine bifacial projectile made on a prismatic blade (possibly a willow-leaf type, or tanged), from another within wall context (10316.A1).
Space 268 midden
Space 268, comprised of midden deposits, is located on the western edge of the 4040 Area, overlain by midden (Space 212) and walls (Space 267); the Space 268 midden in turn overlays Buildings 55 and 57. The archaeology of Space 268 was excavated as four midden units (10324, 10369, 10386 and 10396), together with a pit (10380), whose contents appeared to all intents and purposes be redeposited midden material aside from an apparent higher concentration of bone. The assemblages appear to be quite typical of midden/fill material in that they are made up of mainly broken objects (aside from the smaller sturdier pieces), and mixed in terms of freshness and non-functional edge-damage. Half to two-thirds of these assemblages’ contents could be categorized as end-products, specifically blades (and this is not counting those flakes that have use-wear), i.e. production debris is under-represented. The remainder is comprised of non-cortical flakes, plus a few blade-like flakes (related to blade knapping). There are a few rejuvenation pieces (including a number of core-tablets), but only a few actual cores, more often than not recovered in a highly exhausted state, some apparently re-used as small wedging/wood-working tool (pièce esquillée). In sum, we seem to be looking at an accumulation of used implements, not the dump of production debris.

Most of the blades are unipolar, the majority of which are likely to be pressure-flaked technologies; a minority seem to be products of a percussive technique. Few of the implements have been modified – there are a few blades with linear retouch, plus the occasional notched piece. There are, however, a number of notably larger products (wider/thicker/longer) that come from opposed platform [bipolar] technologies that we think were often being employed as blanks for projectile manufacture. Amongst the various points recovered from Space 268 (albeit none from the pit), there are two examples worthy of note from 10396. The first is complete, measuring 5.12cm long, with possible impact damage (10396.A203) made on a blade with an elongated tang; the piece has parallels from Level III (Bialor 1962, fig. 7). The second measures 6.42cm and has a less accentuated tang and is missing its very ends (10396.A12); it has parallels from Levels III and IV (Bialor 1962, figs. 6-7). There were also a few ‘face blades’ knapped from the surfaces of these points, with two from 10369 and three from 10396.
Building 55 (Spaces 247 and 256)
Building 55 is located due south of Building 52, separated by Space 271, an east-west street / open space. The structure is comprised of a narrow northern room (Space 247) that contained a complex of bins and a larger southern room (Space 256). The structure had been truncated by a large Roman foundation trench. Technologically the material from this structure essentially replicated that witnessed from each of the 4040 structures, i.e. the dominance of unipolar pressure-flaked technologies, with both pressure and percussion traditions represented.
Space 247
The uppermost fill of the larger southern room was made up of a midden deposit (10348) that produced a relatively small quantity of obsidian (n=24). The assemblage was dominated by pressure-flaked center blades (plus a few percussion), all unipolar with lip removal, a significant proportion of which had also been used; only one piece had linear retouch. One distal section of a blade came from an opposed platform technology. The midden also produced the upper body and tip of a used projectile (10348.A1); the piece is very straight sided, then tapering to a point (i.e. not the willow-shaped variant) with fine covering dorsal retouch, while the ventral surface has invasive but non-covering modification. The point has parallels from Level IV but it is not considered that diagnostic. (10349) the upper part of the room fill proper (sealed by 10348) was dominated by the same type of pressure and percussion center blades, while the lower room fill (10357) produced little of note except one tiny exhausted core. Related deposits to the west of the Roman foundation trench generated much the same type of material, in terms of breakage, surface condition and technology; (10377) (similar to 10349) did include what appeared to be the much reduced remains of a projectile (made on a non-local prismatic blade [10377.A1], while (10382) (under 10377) contained an excellent example of a wide ‘face blade’, i.e. one of those blanks knapped from the surface of a point (10377.A1).

The tip of another broken/used bifacial projectile (10323.A1) came from another infill deposit, typologically dateable to Levels IV-VI, while (10326) produced a worn and slightly burnt wide prismatic blade made of a tan-brown limnic quartzite (5.26 • 2.58 • 0.49cm), polish on dorsal ridges suggests in circulation (or kept in a sheath) for a long time, i.e. not necessarily contemporary with Building 55 (10326.A4).
Building 54 (Spaces 264, 265 and 266)
The structure due east of Building 57, heavily eroded / truncated, its floors were considered to be largely missing. It comprises three spaces, namely 265 (main room to south), 266 (small narrow space on east) and 264, an east-west room at north.
Space 265/266
The room fills excavated in Space 265 (11962 and 11998) were dominated by prismatic blades, as ever a mix of pressure-flaking and percussion, unipolar with lip removal commonplace. The remainder of the assemblage was made up of a few flakes, the occasional pièce esquillée. Both fills did include broken examples of notably thicker initial series blades, likely from an opposed platform technology and probably from Nenezi Dag; these blades are almost certainly represented the blanks for making projectiles.
Space 264
The one notable pattern that seems to be emerging within the excavation of the 4040 Area is that there seems to be less chipped stone circulating in these narrow rooms. Space 264 contained a number of neonate burials and a bin complex. The room fill (11924) produced much the same range of material as that recovered from Spaces 265/266, though the assemblage did also contain a possible ‘edge blade’ from the face of a point and a side-scraper made on the edge of a thick flake, conceivably a ‘quarry flake’, i.e. one of the thick blanks we associate with hoard material. The two bin fills 11945 and 11946 contained a handful of scrappy pieces of obsidian, while 11933 (a slightly strange plaster fill) produced a complete pressure-flaked centre blade (8.24 • 1.55 • 0.37cm) with lip removal, faceted platform and use-wear (11933.X1). The state and location of this piece suggests that it was deliberately deposited here; the ‘plastering in’ of blades and other objects is attested in earlier contexts from the South Area (Carter, Conolly and Spasojević, in press). Associated with the eroded floor itself were three centre blades and one thicker example with remnant natural surface, a possible projectile preform.
Building 58 (Spaces 227 and 258)
Located due east of Building 55 with shared double wall, it is oriented east-west with a narrow north-south room on the west (Space 258) and a main room to the east (Space 227). The diagnostics amongst the chipped stone assemblage have parallels from Levels III-IV, of which Level IV is considered the most likely date.
Space 258
The narrow western room of Building 55 has thus far produced very little chipped stone, with one room fill (10353) relatively clean aside from a few pieces of obsidian, though the fill of the SE corner (10356) did include a burnt chunk/exhausted core of limnic-quartzite and the proximal end of an orange limnic-quartzite lateral/part-cortical prismatic blade (10356.A1). The latter is retouched on right margin and seems to have gloss along both margins, making it one of the very few sickles we have thus found in the 4040 Area.
Space 227
Building 55’s main room has a series of platforms (F.2123, F.2130) and benches (F.2001) along its western side, with a central floor (F.2129) to the south of which is a hearth (F.2122), platform (F.2128) and an oven (F.2124). On the eastern side there are more platforms (F.1567, F.2136 and F.2137). This was part-excavated in 2004 and continued this year; the following comments deal with both sets of material.

Of the various fill deposits, (10202), made up of collapsed walls, unsurprisingly contained precious little material, while (10205, 10213, 10260, 10345, 11938, 11939) generated the usual range of fragmentary unipolar prismatic blades (pressure and percussion), a couple with linear retouch and a tiny exhausted blade-core fragment. Fill (10205) also contained three core tablets from prismatic blade cores (while (10260) produced a further example), highly distinctive pieces that relate to modes of platform rejuvenation within the pressure tradition; it is within the 4040 assemblages that we are now seeing these pieces for the first time in the new excavations (to my knowledge). Core-tablets such as these have also been recorded from Level IV contexts in the South excavations and Level I-II contexts in the TP Area (see above). The tip of a bifacial projectile was also recovered (10260.X10); made on a prismatic blade, it is not a particularly fine, or diagnostic example. Within the upper fill (10377) was recognised a cluster of animal bone (11930) amongst which were a few pieces of obsidian, mainly the usual mix of broken prismatic blades and non-cortical flakes, with the exception of 11930.X1, a used bifacial projectile (missing its tip from impact), made on a prismatic blade (6.08 • 1.85 • 0.95cm); this seems likely to be significant. It has an elongated tang and has invasive/covering bifacial retouch, with parallels from Level III (Bialor 1962, fig. 7,1), Level IV (ibid, fig. 6,1).

Defined as an artefact-rich basal fill / interface with the structure’s floor, (11985) produced 26 pieces of obsidian, 14 of which were blade products, mainly from the plein débitage, but also a lateral example (11985.A18), one with natural surface (11985.A2), and an example 2.49cm wide (11985.A3). The latter piece is interesting as it does not seem to be bipolar and also appears to be made of obsidian from Göllü Dağ-east; previously most of the notably wider blade products were seen to have derived from opposed platform technologies, likely performed at a Nenezi Dağ workshop. The same context also produced a very large core-tablet of same purple-grey translucent material as the large blade mentioned above (11985.A1). The excavation also recorded a cluster of objects at the basal interface of fill and floor (10264), concentrated to the south, comprising a figurine, beads, bone, ground stone inter alia (possibly just an initial phase of dump, rather than a deliberate deposit), including a lateral blade, flake, two blade-like flakes and an end-scraper on a prismatic blade. A series of the obsidian finds were accorded X-finds (see also Delerue’s report from 2004), with 10264.X13 - a slightly irregular proximal centre blade; 10264.X24 – a polished ‘nail’, or perforator (cf. Coqueugniot 1998); 10264.X26 a wide blade-like flake (off the face of large blade-core) with retouch along right margin and natural surface on left; 10264.X42 a near complete projectile with extremely fine bifacial retouch made on a prismatic blade (7.23 • 1.81 • 0.93cm), missing only its very tip from use impact. The point has parallels from Level VI (Bialor 1962, fig. 3,1&5), Level V (ibid, Fig. 5,1) and Level IV (ibid, Fig. 1), though the Level IV example is considered the best. In turn, there were also two centre blades (10264.X43 and 10264.X46), plus a tan limnic-quartzite blade/blade-like flake (10264.X16) retouched into an end/side-scraper with heavy use-wear and subsequent reworking (into a pièce esquillée).
Building 57 (Spaces 269 and 270)
Building 57 is due south of Building 55 and abuts Building 54 to the east; as with Building 55 it has been truncated by the large Roman foundation trench. The structure has two rooms, Space 270 a narrow east-west room to the north and Space 269, the large room to the south. The associated chipped stone gives us a provisional date of Level IV.

Once again the smaller room is seen to be somewhat unproductive, with room fill (12302) generating a mere 22 pieces from dry sieve and hand-picked samples. The material is a typical mix of unipolar prismatic blades (one had been worked into a perforator), together with a handful of non-cortical flakes (one a retouched rejuvenation piece).

A number of separate, but likely related room fills were excavated in the much larger Space 269 (12114, 12116, 12124, 12128 and 12140), all producing much the same range of material, i.e. pressure and percussion centre blades (unipolar, lips removed), non-cortical flakes and a few exhausted cores / pièces esquillées. A few of the blades had been retouched, with linear modification dominant, plus the occasional notch, perforator and end-scraper. Infill (12128) did also include a possible ‘edge blade’, and a core tablet. Of the other contexts investigated in 2005, (12132) is worthy of note, an obsidian cluster on the floor in the NE corner of Space 269, made up of three implements, with a slightly irregular (unfinished?) projectile and two long, retouched and used centre blades (8.34cm and 6.84cm long). The projectile was made on a relatively thick (0.83cm) prismatic blade, is unused and has covering bifacial retouch; it has parallels from Level III (Bialor 1962, Fig. 7,2) and Level IV (ibid, Fig. 6,4).

Finally, in the NW corner of Space 269 the fill of a niche between the western and northern walls (12129) produced a small quantity of obsidian, an assemblage much the same as that from surrounding fills. However, the uppermost layers of the niche (12124) did produce a range of objects that seem to have been placed in this space deliberately (see elsewhere in 2005 Archive Report), including a preformed blade core of limnic-quartzite. This is the first time that we have found such a part-worked nucleus and is considered a highly significant piece for us, not least due to the fact that with such a large chunk of raw material (7.61 x 6.91 x 5.51cm) confirms what we have always thought, i.e. that classifying the raw material of our limnic-quartzite implements on the basis of their colour was flawed due to the likelihood of colour variability within a nodule. Indeed, as one turns the core around it can be seen to range from blue to ‘planty-white’ (Add photo).
Building 41 (Spaces 212 and 216)
Building 41, is located on the western boundary of 4040, due south of Building 55 and adjoining Building 57 to the east, it is the foundation trench of a ?Roman structure that cuts through the Neolithic deposits. The associated fill (10278) included significant quantities of chipped stone, including (unfortunately) lots of diagnostic material, with a complete tanged projectile (10278.A2) made on a percussion produced centre blade, plus the fragments of three other points of various forms (10278.A9, 10278.A4 and 10278.A32).
Midden area between Building 57 and Space 273
The open area and possible street (yet to be accorded a Space number) between Building 57 (to the north) and Space 273 (to the south) produced not inconsiderable quantities of chipped stone, tentatively assigned a Level IV date. Seven midden units were excavated (12101, 12102, 12106, 12107, 12108, 12110 and 12112), all of which generated quantities of unipolar prismatic blades from pressure and percussion technologies, the majority from the plein débitage, with lip removal common. Linear retouch was the main form of modification, together with the occasional notch and perforator/piercer. There was also another of our polished implements (12102.A1) made on a blade-like flake, with rounded edges that appear to be tapering towards a point on the (missing) distal end, i.e. the tool seems to have been used for boring through a stone.

Wider blades from an opposed platform technology (likely made of Nenezi Dağ obsidian) are a minority component. Where present, cores were typically in an exhausted state, though these midden deposits seem to be very end-product oriented, whereby one wonders if the inhabitants of the surrounding houses were consumers rather than producers (we need to see the heavy residue samples before we comment further on this). There are some rejuvenation pieces, specifically a number of the distinctive core-tablets from pressure-flaked blade cores, as well as a large flake off the face of a bipolar core. It is currently uncertain as to whether such blanks might have circulated as end-products in themselves, or whether we may have some evidence for the on-site performance of this tradition. Of some interest is a large ‘quarry flake’ from (12101) measuring 6.83 • 6.75 •1.21cm, one of the very few example we have thus far encountered from the 4040 Area (though we have not yet encountered any hoards).

Turning to the more diagnostic retouched pieces, the middens produced a number of broken projectiles, two of which had a ‘face blade’ removed from it, as well as a large biface that has good parallels from Level III (Bialor 1962, fig. 9) and Level IV (ibid, fig. 6, 20 [all these pieces came from 12102]). The same assemblage also included a small polished perforator, a highly distinctive implement that we have only ever seen in the 4040 levels (and Building 44 of the South) thus far.
Conclusions
The above text can at times read like a tedious litany of blades, lips and margins, so it behoves us to make a few summary comments in conclusion. Firstly, while great progress was made on the 4040 Area material, we are left in a somewhat frustrating position. The excavation strategy employed over the past two years has been dedicated to revealing a large swathe of near-contemporary structures, waiting to then dig floor deposits in the following seasons, whereby we have yet to encounter any ashy rakeout deposits, or hoards. My frustration relates to the fact that we are gaining the impression that significant differences exist in the nature of production, circulation and consumption of chipped stone between the earlier and later halves of the Early Neolithic sequence. Firstly, following Conolly’s claimed shift in the organisation of production post Level VIB (Conolly 1999), it may be that we no longer recover obsidian-rich deposits related to knapping next to these buildings’ ovens and fire-installations. While we may continue to find clearly defined ‘dirty areas’ in these structures, with concentrations of ashy rakeouts, one wonders whether we will continue to find craftworking debris amongst this material on a building-by-building basis. Secondly, and likely to be a related issue, we have no idea as yet as to whether we can expect such a widespread distribution of hoards now that we are digging in the upper levels (and the same argument goes here for the South and TP excavations). In the South Area (Levels X-VII) we recovered hoards from most of those buildings that had not suffered major truncation from later activity and / or the 1960’s excavations (Carter in press; Conolly 2003). Thirdly, we appear to have lost our ‘obsidian industry 1’, i.e. the in house manufactureofmanufacture of small, unstandardized blades and blade-like flakes from opposed platform cores, that dominates our assemblages from Levels PreXII.D to VII in the South Area.

Where we potentially can (and arguably should) help to clarify these matters is through a continued excavation of Building 52 and other structures where we have burnt destructions in the 4040 Area. Another of this year’s frustrations was the apparent reluctance of the project to discuss the fire destruction with reference to Mellaart’s alleged ‘horizon’ of burning that separated Levels VIA-B. Here we have a perfect opportunity to examine this issue, through contrasting the lithic technology of the assemblages from the building sequences that span this fire destruction. Alternatively, we may instead come to view the burning of this structure as evidence for a different form of household abandonment to that witnessed in the earlier part of the Early Neolithic sequence.

In terms of what we can say, the archaeology currently being exposed in each of the areas shares many technological features that we will loosely assign to a ‘later’ Early Neolithic tradition at Çatalhöyük (something that may, or may not ultimately correlate with the pre-/post Level VIB horizon as traditionally discussed). These features are:

A dominance of obsidian, if anything in slightly higher proportions than in the earlier levels (still to be fully quantified). A dominance of non-cortical obsidian blanks; the material(s) continue to be procured in an already worked state. A dominance of unipolar prismatic blade industries, both pressure-flaked and percussion, characterized by their plain platforms and lip removal. Pressure-flaked products always appear to be in the majority, their dominance becoming accentuated by Levels I-II (TP Area). These industries appear to have been performed on-site; numerous cores have been recovered, almost always in a highly exhausted state. The final stages of reduction are intense and less regular, thus serving to obscure the core’s original form; the final stages of pressure-flaked core reduction seem to involve the use of percussion, sometimes turning the nucleus upside down to end the sequence with opposed platform scars.
While the unipolar blades are being produced on site, we do not have evidence for their entire reduction sequence. Specifically, we seem to lack the blades of initiation. We do note the crested blade from a Level I-II assemblage in the TP Area, whereby we may have a slightly difference in the latest phases of the East Mound occupation.

We do, however, have a number of secondary series blades (those removed from the core after the initial blade has been knapped and before the true plein débitage has been attained), with single dorsal ridges. These blades are thicker than the centre blades and have a triangular (rather than trapezoidal) cross-section; we are quite certain that these are the blanks upon which the community made their projectiles. We are not entirely certain, however, as to whether these blades were being knapped on site, or whether some of these are being imported ready-made from elsewhere (this may not have been constant through time). Hoards from the 1960’s excavations have sometimes included blades of this form.

A small proportion of the prismatic (pressure and percussion) blades are retouched, usually with simple linear modification, plus the occasional notch or perforator.
Associated with the pressure-flaked blade technology, from at least Level V onwards, are the highly distinctive rejuvenation pieces referred to as core-tablets (a flake struck across the top of the core to remove the platform and upper face to regain the required knapping angle). We are not sure as yet as to whether any of these pieces derive from the unipolar percussion industry.

A minority component of all our later assemblages are notably wider (>2cm) unipolar blades, apparently made from Nenezi Dağ obsidian; these pieces are often retouched. These blades seem to be entering the site ready-made as we have no associated manufacturing debris, aside from an occasional large rejuvenation piece that could conceivably have been imported as an implement / blank in its own right.
Another minority component of our later assemblages are wide blades from an opposed platform technology, also apparently made from Nenezi Dağ obsidian (we have to examine as to whether the aforementioned industry is not actually a part of this one, i.e. segments of blades only displaying scars in one direction). These blades were imported ready made and were almost invariably retouched, a number possibly as large projectiles (spearheads), others as endscrapers.

Bipolar blades are much less common / absent in the latest levels (TP). We are recovering numerous projectiles in the 4040 Area, while Building 44 and the South Area middens have similarly generated a number of points; conversely, these implements are virtually unknown from the Level I-II deposits thus far encountered in TP. Typological variability is usually noted within the projectiles recovered from any one Space; the different forms from cache (10342) provide a case in point (no pun intended). Blades are always the blank employed to make projectiles (where it is possible to ascertain the original blank), albeit not the centre blades. Typically an initial series blade (thicker with triangular cross-section), or a larger bipolar product, will be modified. We are not completely certain at present as to whether these blades were manufactured on-site.

A significant proportion of our projectiles display damage on the tip of a form that suggests they had been used. A number of points had also been knapped after their use/breakage. We have a number of examples where small blades/blade-like-flakes have been flaked from their dorsal/ventral surface. The meaning of this act is open to debate, i.e. as to whether one sees this as some form of curation/economising measure, maximising the raw material by squeezing the very last blank out of it, or alternatively view this as some mode of symbolic behaviour (drawing upon the point’s original potent killing power). However, the knapping of points and other retouched implements (such as scrapers) is a long held tradition at Çatalhöyük, attested from the Aceramic Neolithic onward (see ‘obsidian industry 6’ [Carter, Conolly and Spasojević, in press]). What we can note with regard to this year’s work, is that we now recognise that the practice of projectile-reduction changes through time. In the Aceramic Neolithic and Pre-Level VIB assemblages points have their margins removed in a form of burination (the resultant blanks being referred to as ‘edge blades’); in contrast, the projectiles from the 4040 Area, South Summit and this year’s South Area have their surfaces flaked (the resultant blanks being referred to as ‘face blades’).  Retouched flakes are not very common in the later levels; scrapers are virtually absent as a tool type.

We now have a number of polished obsidian ‘carving tools’ (Conolly 1999, 50) from the later levels, with an example from a Level I-II context from TP made on a blade (12219.A2), plus another blade with ground margins from Building 56 (Level V) in the South Summit (11670.A181), a blade from the IST Area (Fig. 101) and a blade-like flake borer/perforator from the middenareabetweenBuilding57andSpace273inthe4040Area(12102.A1).midden area between Building 57 and Space 273 in the 4040Area(12102.A1).4040 Area (12102.A1). These pieces now join the example from last year (Building 47, Space 237). These tools seem to have been used to work stone, conceivably figurines, to incise lines and perhaps also to bore holes.

Having only excavated a single hoard from a post-Level VIB context (Building 1), we still have little idea as to the various forms in which obsidian entered the site. Specifically, we are uncertain as to whether the part-decorticated/decorticated flat, thick ‘quarry flakes’ are still being brought to the site. This is a mode of procurement we associate with the exploitation of the Göllü Dağ-east sources during the earlier half of the site’s occupation (Carter et al, in press) and the manufacture of our ‘in house’ obsidian industry 1 (see above). A few fragments of thick flakes were recovered this season, but it remains to be seen as to whether they represent part of the same phenomenon.

There is a lack of sickles from the later Early Neolithic levels; this is quite an interesting point as it correlates with Mellaart’s original assertion that these implements were extremely rare at the site (Mellaart 1964, 105). Our work over the past few years seemed to contradict his comments as we recovered numerous examples, however, now that we are digging in the upper levels at the site, they do indeed seem to be very uncommon. Perhaps here we have evidence for a further shift in depositional practices, whereby these implements are no longer making their way into middens. Alternatively, there might be a shift from ‘flint’ to obsidian sickles; the latter are much harder to recognise at a macroscopic level. We did have one very obvious obsidian example, with denticulated retouch (both edges) and linear use-wear striae running parallel to the margins, albeit a surface find from the IST Team Area.

The non-obsidian component is dominated by a range of limnic-quartzites (with an occasional piece of radiolarite), present almost invariably in blade form. There appears to be a local percussion prismatic blade industry analogous to that in obsidian (e.g. Building 44), while much larger blades were imported ready-made. Some of the latter pieces were used to make daggers, as well as the occasional end-scraper, or large retouched knife.

Figure 101. Two points, a splintered piece and a carving tool from IST Area (scale 1/1).

Other projects, presentations and publications
Alongside the on-site study of the chipped stone, there are two laboratory based projects currently underway focusing on the obsidian from the site, the first related to characterization studies, the second to hydration dating.
Obsidian characterization studies
Work continues on the chemical sourcing of our obsidians, the latest series of 100 samples (detailed in the 2004 report) having now been completed at Bordeaux (CentredeRechercheenPhysiqueAppliquéel’Archéologie;Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée l’Archéologie; Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux (Belfort-Bordeaux-Orléans) UMR 5060 - IRAMAT - CNRS - Université Bordeaux ). theanalysesundertakenbyGérardPoupeauandSarahDelerueemployingacombination the analyses undertaken by Gérard Poupeau and Sarah Delerue employing a combination of PIXE and MEB. The results suggest that the Göllü Dağ-east and Nenezi Dağ obsidians were the primary resources exploited by the community throughout the Neolithic, albeit with significant differences in how these raw materials were exploited through time. Having now sampled artefacts from the Aceramic Neolithic levels and the upper strata of the 4040 Area we now have a significantly longer chronological span covered by our analyses. Full details of this work will be presented in a forthcoming article; however we can state that the samples from the Aceramic levels are almost entirely assigned to the Gollu Dag-east sources, while the later levels are dominated by Nenezi Dağ obsidian.

Of some interest is that during the past two years two of our team has spotted what they consider to be East Anatolian products. Last year Delerue noted what appears to be a blade core from an Early Chalcolithic level on the West Mound made of Lake Van obsidian (together with what Carter tentatively considers to be a blade made of Melian obsidian), while this year Kayacan has noted implements that she similarly considers to be made from East Anatolian raw materials. It is our intention to sample these objects next year.

One of the main issues that we expect to have to deal with in the future is to what extent we can discriminate amongst the various obsidians that comprise the Göllü Dağ-east field as defined by in the late 1990’s by Poidevin (1998, 110-15). The ability to distinguish between these sources has already been claimed by Gratuze (1999) using LA-ICP-MS. Matters have since become somewhat more complicated however, in that renewed survey at the sources has demonstrated that we are in fact dealing with at least 10 spatially and geologically distinct outcrops on the Göllü Dağ massif, as opposed to the six discussed originally by Poidevin (Gratuze et al 2005). A recent study involving a combination of geo-chemical, geo-chronological and structural analyses allegedly permits a more fine-tuned discrimination of the sources, with four groups distinguished thus far (Gratuze et al 2005).

Our research group (At present involving primarily Gérard Poupeau and Sarah Delerue from Bordeaux, plus Nick Pearce from Aberystwyth) has indeed begun to approach this issue, further considering the analytical results from our archaeological samples (>200) alongside an expanded data-set from geological samples (Poupeau et al 2005). Our initial results suggest a potential ability to discriminate between the Kömürcü and East Kayırlı outcrops, however, we require an expanded set of geological samples – matching those discerned by Gratuze and colleagues – in order to proceed further with this matter. In November 2004 Carter spent 10 days with Poupeau and Delerue at the Archaeometarials lab in Bordeaux in 2004 working on this and related issues and hopes to return in 2005 to develop these themes further alongside writing up our latest set of results. As well as the recent publication on the issue of Göllü Dağ source discrimination (Poupeau et al 2005), our larger research group displayed a poster at the Archéometrie 2005 conference at Saclay, France 'Cappadocian obsidians from Early Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Revisiting provenance studies’ – T. Carter, S. Delerue, G. Poupeau, N.J.G. Pearce, M.S. Shackley and M. Milić.).

Obsidian hydration studies
An increased number of samples have now been sent to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee) to be included in our obsidian hydration dating program, with artifacts from Early Chaclolithic I-II levels selected from the West Mound. At the time of writing analyses are being undertaken using Secondary Ionisation Mass Spectrometry; it is very much hoped that results will appear in the near future to enable us to include a report in the upcoming West Mound publication as well as within a specialist peer-review journal.

References
Bialor, P. (1962), ‘The chipped stone industry of Çatal Hüyük’, Anatolian Studies XII: 67-110.
Carter, T. (in press), ‘Of blanks and burials: hoarding obsidian at Neolithic Çatalhöyük’, in L. Astruc, D. Binder and F. Briois (eds.), PPN Communities’ Technical System Diversity: Towards Social Behavior. Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on PPN Chipped Lithic Industries. Fréjus, 2004. Ex Oriente, Berlin [2006].

Carter, T., Conolly, J. and Spasojević, A. (in press), ‘The chipped stone’, in I. Hodder (ed.), Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. McDonald Institute Monographs and BIAA, Cambridge [2005].

Carter, T., Bressy, C. and Poupeau, G. (2001) “People and place’: New information on technical change at Çatalhöyük’, American Journal of Archaeology 105(2): 280

Carter, T., Poupeau, G., Bressy, C. and Pearce, N.J.G. (in press), ‘From chemistry to consumption: towards a history of obsidian use at Çatalhöyük through a programme of inter-laboratory trace-elemental characterization’, in I. Hodder (ed.), Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. McDonald Institute Monographs and BIAA, Cambridge [2005].

Conolly, J. (1997), ‘Çatalhöyük 1997 lithic report’, http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk/catal/Archive_rep97/ar97_10.html

Conolly, J. (1999), ‘Technical strategies and technical change at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey’, Antiquity 73: 791-800. Conolly, J. (2003), ‘The Çatalhöyük obsidian hoards: a contextual analysis of technology’, in Moloney, N. and Shott, M. (eds.) Lithic Studies for the New Millennium. Archtype Books, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, London: 55-78.

Coqueugniot, É. (1998), ‘L’obsidienne en Méditerranée orientale aux époques post-Néolithiques’, in M.C. Cauvin, A. Gourgaud, B. Gratauze, N. Arnaud, G. Poupeau, J.L. Poidevin and C. Chataigner (eds.), L’Obsidienne au Proche et Moyen Orient: Du Volcan l’Outil. Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 738, Archaeopress, Oxford: 351-61.

Grace, R. (1990), ‘Limitations and applications in use-wear analysis’, in B. Gräslund, H. Knutsson, K. Knutsson and J. Taffinder (eds.), The Interpretative Possibilities of Microwear Studies. Aun 14, Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis. Uppsala, Sweden: 9-14.

Gratuze, B. (1999), ‘Obsidian characterization by Laser Ablation ICP-MS and its application to prehistoric trade in the Mediterranean and the Near East: sources and distribution of obsidian with the Aegean and Anatolia’, Journal of Archaeological Science 26(10): 869-881.

Gratuze, B., Boucetta, S., Binder, D., Balkan-Atli, N., Bellot-Gurlet, L. and Mouralis, D. (2005), ‘New investigations of the Göllü Dağ obsidian lava flows system: comparison between chemical, mineralogical and fission track data’, paper presented at the Melos International Workshop, July 2003, University of the Aegean (Rhodes), Department of Mediterranean Studies and the International Association of Obsidian Studies, International Association of Obsidian Studies 33: 18-19.

Kayacan, N. (2000), Yüzey Obsidien Buluntularının Tekno-Kültürel Açıdan Değerlendirilmesi: Neolitik Musular Yerleşmesi Örneği. Unpublished MA thesis, Istanbul Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Edebiyat Fakültesi Prehistorya Anabilim Dalı.

Kayacan, N. (2003), ‘Chipped stone industry of the Neolithic site of Musular (Cappadocia): preliminary results’, Anatolia Antiqua XI: 1-10.

Mellaart, J. (1963), ‘Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, second preliminary report, 1962’, Anatolian Studies XIII: 43-103. Mellaart, J. (1964), ‘Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, third preliminary report, 1963’, Anatolian Studies XIV: 39-119.Poupeau, G., Delerue, S. Carter, T., de B. Pereira, C.E., Miekeley, N. and Bellot-Gurlet, L. (2005) ‘How homogeneous is the “East Göllü Dağ” (Cappadocia Turkey) obsidian ‘source’ composition?’, International Association of Obsidian Studies Bulletin 32: 3-8.

Figure 96: Relative density of obsidian from TP flotation samples, 2005 with focus on 12237 – the ashy rakeout of Level I.