WEST MOUND STUDY SEASON
CATRIONA GIBSON & JONATHAN LAST
For a number of reasons no fieldwork was undertaken on the West Mound this year. However, a study season allowed analysis of pottery, lithics and faunal remains excavated in previous seasons to continue.
Pottery by Catriona Gibson & Jonathan Last
The current programme of analysis is designed to provide information on all these aspects of the Early Chalcolithic pottery from the West Mound. This will allow comparisons with the East Mound Neolithic assemblages and investigation of long-term changes in ceramic technology and functions, as well as comparisons with other contemporary sites, especially those investigated by the Konya Plain Survey. It will also form the basis for a contextual analysis of the use of space, particularly in the different spaces of B25, and of the formation processes of different types of deposit.
This season a total of 5224 sherds were analysed (2234 were fully analysed and 2990 small body sherds were scanned). Of those analysed, 25% were rims, 11% were bases and 3.5% were handles. Fifty-five percent of all sherds studied lacked decoration but the remaining exhibited some sort of painted motif. All of the backlog material from 2000 has now been analysed; in addition, all of the ‘primary’ Chalcolithic contexts from 2001 were studied along with many of the large ‘secondary’ contexts.As an example of the results of this analysis, we can say that by far the most common decorative motif is the red-painted horizontal zig-zag, which appears on both open and closed forms.
Chipped Stone by Tiffany Raszick
It has been the focus of the 2002 season to begin to more clearly identify diagnostic Chalcolithic ‘types’ within the Çatalhöyük West assemblages, focusing solely on the secure Chalcolithic units. This included material collected from the 1998, 2000, and 2001 seasons. The main objectives were to develop a fuller understanding of the varied blade industry, in the broadest sense, and to begin to examine intra-site variability through an analysis of the distinct contextual units. Additionally, a sample collection of obsidian artefacts from secure Chalcolithic contexts has been selected and sent to Stanford University for ICP analysis. In 1998, Dr. T. Carter collected seven samples from the West Mound, from Early Chalcolithic I units and an Early Chalcolithic II pit unit. The results of this, albeit limited, collection have shown that there is a potential correlation to be made between material types and source, and the type of object produced. Further analysis should help to clarify this and will also contribute to our understanding of the use of material through time when compared with the Neolithic collection.
Animal Bone by Sheelagh Frame
A number of interesting patterns are now beginning to emerge from the analysis of the animal bone from the Chalcolithic West Mound at Çatalhöyük. A total of 51,336 bone fragments have now been fully recorded; 4878 of these bones have been identified at least to genus. It is now clear that the human-animal interactions were focused on a few domestics, primarily caprids which make up 88% of the identified bones. The ratio of sheep to goat among bones that can be identified to these species is about 7:1 in favour of sheep. Although this ratio of sheep to goat is similar to that found on the Neolithic mound, the overall importance of sheep and goat has increased dramatically. The cattle, which make up 6% of the total, appear to be relatively small in size, suggesting that they are also domestic. This is significant since recent work on the East Mound suggests that the Neolithic cattle were wild. These Chalcolithic cattle may therefore be some of the earliest domestic cattle in the region. How they relate to the wild, Neolithic population is at the moment uncertain.