Substantive technologies at Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2000-2008 seasons: Çatal Research Project vol. 9(48 British Institute at Ankara Monograph)

The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey has been world famous since the 1960s when excavations revealed the large size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintings and reliefs uncovered inside the houses. Since 1993 an international team of archaeologists, led by Ian Hodder, has been carrying out new excavations and research, in order to shed more light on the people who inhabited the site. The present volume reports on the results of excavations in 2000-2008 that have provided a wealth of new data on the ways in which humans became increasingly engaged in their material environment such that ‘things’ came to play an active force in their lives. A substantial and heavy involvement was with alluvial clays that surrounded the site. In the absence of large local stone, humans became increasingly involved in the extraction and manipulation of clay for a wide range of purposes – from bricks to ovens, pots and figurines. This heavy use of clays led to changes in the local environment that interacted with human activity, as indicated in the first section of the volume. In the second section, other examples of material technologies are considered all of which in various ways engage humans in specific dependencies and relationships. For example, large-scale studies of obsidian trade have drawn a complex picture of changing interactions between humans over time. The volume concludes with an integrated account of the uses of materials at Çatalhöyük based on the analysis of heavy residue samples from all contexts at the site.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: becoming entangled in things – Ian Hodder 8,000 (word length) A settlement of clay Sourcing clays – Chris Doherty 12,000 An archaeology of mudbrick houses – Serena Love 10,000 Building materials – Mirjana Stevanovic 12,000 Biographies of architectural materials and buildings: integrating high-resolution micro-analysis and geochemistry - Matthews, W., Almond, M.J., Anderson, E., Wiles, J., and Stokes, H. 10,000 Ovens and hearths – Sonya Atalay and Sheena 5,000 Floor chemistry – Bill Middleton 4,000 Ceramics – Nurcan Yalman et al (including section on sourcing by Chris Doherty) 14,000 Pottery residues – Sharmini Pitter 4,000 Figurines – Lynn Meskell and Carrie Nakamura 12,000 Stamp seals – Ali Umut Türkcan 5,000 Clay balls – Sonya Atalay 8,000 Clay objects – Lucy Bennison-Chapman 5,000 Demanding technologies Groundstone – Katherine Wright 10,000 Chipped stone – Tristan Carter and Marina Milic 14,000 Worked bone – Nerissa Russell 6,000 Baskets – Willeke Wendrich 3,000 Metal – Thilo Rehren and Tom Birch 4,000 Pyrotechnology – Karl Harrison 4,000 Paints – Duygu Çamurcuoğlu 5,000 Beads – Rose Bains 8,000 Conclusion An integrated perspective on the uses of materials at Çatalhöyük based on the analysis of heavy residues – Milena Vasic and Slobodan Mitrovic 12,000 CD – additional figures (50) and images (50) and tables (25)

About the Author :
Ian Hodder, Fellow of the British Academy since 1996, is the Dunlevie Family Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University.