EXCAVATION OF THE WEST MOUND
Catriona Gibson & Jonathan Last
Renewed excavations at the West Mound began in 1998, when selected areas of James Mellaart’s two 1961 trenches were re-opened. The main finding was the corner of a mudbrick building on the highest part of the mound. This discovery clearly warranted further investigation, and in 2000 a larger excavation area was opened in the vicinity of the expected building (known as Building 25; hereafter B.25). The results of this excavation have also been documented elsewhere, but included the discovery of three Late Roman/Byzantine burials overlying at least three phases of Chalco¬lithic architecture. Since the structure turned out to be larger and more complex than originally expected, its full extent was not uncovered. Therefore in 2001 the excavation area was expanded horizontally to the north, west and east. Further walls of B.25 were uncovered, along with the cuts of several more Late Roman/Byzantine graves.
The main aim of the 2003 season was to investigate the various spaces comprising B.25 within this larger area and to bring these into phase with the area excavated in 2000 (also entailing the excavation of a number of the graves). This would allow a better understanding of the architecture and use of space in a Chalcolithic structure, and of their similarities and differences from the East Mound buildings. The secondary aim was to continue the analysis of the artefact (ceramics, lithics) and environmental (faunal, botanical) assemblages from this and previous seasons.
Five weeks of excavation took place during July and August 2003, funded by the Wainwright Fund and the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, with support from the main Çatalhöyük Project. The excavation was directed jointly by Catriona Gibson and Jonathan Last, assisted by a small team of British archaeologists (from Wessex Archaeology), one Turkish student and local workers. Initially the backfill from the 2001 season was removed, and an ‘L’-shaped excavation area was laid out on the basis of the plan drawn at the end of the 2001 season (Fig. 21). This trench lay to the north and west of the area excavated in 2000 (Spaces 189–193). Its western edge was defined by the limit of a large Byzantine pit (7218), investigated in 2001, which had removed the Chalcolithic deposits in this area. Its eastern edge was defined by the wall lines identified in the 2000 season.
Figure 21. Plan of Building 25.
In 2003 several graves were investigated. Within Space 194, an undisturbed grave lined with orange mudbricks was excavated (F.735) (Fig. 22). This grave measured 2.5 x 1.5 m and was 0.4 m deep. It was not aligned with the Chalcolithic walls but cut through plaster surfaces associated with the main space of B.25. It contained a supine extended inhumation of a young (c. 18–25) female, but lacked grave goods.
Figure 22. Grave F.735: a young female c. 18–25