Ethics and Archaeology: the Attempt at Eatalhoyuk Author(S): Ian Hodder Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol

Ethics and Archaeology: The Attempt at Eatalhoyuk Author(s): Ian Hodder Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 174-181 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210882 Accessed: 08/01/2009 13:53

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http://www.jstor.org Ethics and Archaeology: The Attemptat (atalhoyuk

By Ian Hodder

H owshould archaeologists decide _ __ ji __ ,-s . 1' which questionsto ask about 2"Q-. . the sites they areexcavating? Normally,we consider questions that arisewithin the academyof scientists. In orderto get researchfunding we ask questionsthat are topicaland that are sanctionedby the scientificcommunity. Or we may respondto the interestsof donorswhile at the sametime tryingto retainacademic integrity and independ- ence.In allthese ways, the agenda-setting * (,,(I ' V,,uk processis top-down;it comes fromthe C..rA ,l ,C)Aerialview of the excavationslt :"' in 7T'~AU(): ~ C,talhoyik in 1997. The mr,p shows archaeologiststhemselves, perhaps e *A 1 X .T ' the site's location in the Kony,l Pi,ir' collaborationwith their funders.1 1~ .~~~~~of An,tolia rmnodernTurkey

But in a globalizedworld, is this sufficient?Is it adequate to understandwhat these communitiesare and to understandthe focus on the testing of hypotheses set by the academy-an questions they would most like to have answered,is a specialist academyalways steeped in its own interests and directions?On areaof research.For this reason,there are severalethnographers most if not all archaeologicalsites there are multiplecommunities who work on the Qatalh6oyukproject, and who assist in the with an interestin the site. They are "stakeholders"such as local dialoguewith differentcommunities. This paperis, then, especially inhabitants,tourists, the media,politicians and so on. And there indebtedto AyferBartu, David Shanklandand Nurcan Yalman, maybe differentinterested communities with conflictinginterests. who have workedon the variouscommunities discussed here. In Is it sociallyand ethically responsibleto conduct archaeological more general terms, the ethical need for closer interaction researchwithout taking account of the questions they might be betweenarchaeologists and the communitiesthey serveleads to a interested in asking?The usual responseto such concerns is to demand for closer collaboration between archaeologists and build a museum,or providean exhibit in an informationcenter. ethnographers.While there are many groupswith some form of Localcommunities then have to accept or commenton what has interest in Qatalh6yiik,I intend to concentrate on four broad been done by the archaeologists-theircontribution is minimized. groupings:politicians, local residents,New Age Goddessfollowers A fullerresponse is to engagethe differentstakeholder interests in and artists. the settingof agendasin the firstplace. In discussingthe waythat researchquestions can be set withina This article discusses some of the ways in which the collaborationand negotiationof interests,I do not mean to argue archaeologicalresearch at Qatalhoyuikresponds to and integrates that the archaeologiststhemselves should have no questions of questions set by a variety of communities. In my view, to theirown. Clearlythey have a duty to respondto questionsset by

174 NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) News and elsewhere. Within Turkeythe site took on a special significanceas the originof Anatoliancivilization. Rather than imposing New researchat the site undermy directionbegan in 1993,after from [archae- decadesof inactivity.But it was clear fromour earliestpress days, questions outside, that the site had not lost its hold on the publicimagination, at least ologists]also have a duty,in my in Turkey.Our sponsorsstarted organizing press days in orderto to in researchthat attractpublicity for their contributions, and frequentlyfifty or more view, engage pressand mediarepresentatives turned up at the site, eagerto get seeks compromiseand bridges the latestnews. Most of these have been nationaland local media, between a variety of different but we alsoget coveragefrom the internationalpress and television. interests. ThePoliticians Forthe firstgroup that has an interestin Qatalhoyuk,this media interest is crucial. The politicians have come to show a special engagementwith the site since, at events, they are able to the academy,and to act in accordwith best disciplinarypractice. press gain wide media coverage. Of course, they each have their But ratherthan imposingquestions from outside, they also have a differentclaims to make,but for all, the pay-offis publicityin the duty,in my view,to engagein researchthat seekscompromise and context of an internationalproject workingat one of the most bridgesbetween a varietyof differentinterests. A post-colonial earlysites in Turkey.I wish to limit this discussionto solution involves dialogue and hybridityrather than imperial important two contrastinggroups of politicians-the localregional politicians impositionof outsideagendas (Bhabha 1994; Appadurai 1996). and the Europeanpoliticians. As we will see, they use the site in Introductionto verydifferent ways. To what extent can the archaeologyengage in gatalhoyuk a dialogue with such political interests?To what extent can it Some of the reasons that (;atalhoyiikis the focus of so much to the the raise? interest fromdiverse communities can be found in its historyof respond questions politicians Qatalhoyik is situated one hour east of Konya, in a region discoveryand research.It was firstexcavated by JamesMellaart in known for its religiousfundamentalist and/or nationalist the 1960s,and he successfullypublicized its enormousimportance politics. In recent years the has been the of the (Mellaart1967). At an earlydate, now knownto be 7400 to 6200 region stronghold nationalistMHP party, and it is also a centerfor Islamiccompanies BCE,its greatsize (13 hectares)is impressive,as arethe sixteenor so and traditionalrural Islamic attitudes towardswomen regarding levels of occupationin a twenty-onemeter high mound.The site social and economicbehavior. When politicianssuch as the local showedthat largeearly sites existedoutside the "FertileCrescent" mayor (from the local town), or governor,give talks in in the Near East. But it was especially the art that caught the Qumra, frontof the pressat the site, they talk aboutthe importanceof the scholarly and public interest. The wall paintings and relief localityand the region.They say that the presenceof were unique, and even today, after the discovery of ;atalhoyuk sculpture demonstratesthe nature of the Of sitesin southeaster Anatoliawith elaborateart, it remains special region. course, they parallel admit that the site is and but the densestconcentration of symbolismso farfound in the eastern pre-Turk pre-Islamic, they nevertheless that it shows the of the land and its Mediterraneanat this time. Internationally,the site becamewidely say importance traditions. also to the internationalcharacter of the known throughMellaart's publications in the IllustratedLondon They point projectand the visitorsit attracts.Again this showsthe importance of the region.Some tryat times to makelinks to the migrationsof the Turksthemselves, but most are content with rathervaguer connectionsbetween past and present. There is undoubtedly a political and local interest in the question "whowere the people that lived at (atalhyiik?" Local peopleask us this questionall the time. "Werethey relatedto us?" To what extent can archaeologistsrespond to this question?One obviouscontemporary method is throughancient DNA analysis (e.g., Jones 2001). The human burials discovered in the excavationsat (atalhoyiik have been the subjectof two ancient DNA projects. The first was undertaken by the Leeuwen laboratoryin Belgium, and the second by Stanford University (Malhiet al. 2003). So farthis workhas only been able to suggest that there may be some ancient DNA present in the human bones. Much moreand veryintensive study will be needed before A view into the interiorof a house at Catalh6yik, showing the unique art for anythingcan be said about the similaritiesbetween the ancient whichthe site is famous. Note the activityon the roof. and moder populationsin centralTurkey.

NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) 175 There clearly is considerable local interest in trying to was partof Europe,and he seemsless interestedwhen we say that understandthe geneticlinks between Qatalhoyiik and present-day manyarchaeologists take the view that there are difficultieswith populations,and so the projectwill continueto try to find waysof the notion of a large-scalespread of Indo-Europeansassociated continuingthis ancient DNA research.Another responsewould with the spread of agriculture. We point out the evidence be to focuson historicalstudies which show how the local villages described above, for regional sequences, but he looks at the in the Catalh6yiuk-Qumraarea are made up of migrantsfrom the evidencethrough his own politicallenses. Balkans,and such researchis part of ethno-archaeologicalwork It does seem possible,then, to directarchaeological research so being carriedout by Nurcan Yalman.Yet another responseis to that it respondsto issuesraised by localpoliticians. Indeed, I would show waysin which Qatalhiyiikis part of a regionaltradition. It claiman ethicalduty to respondnot simplybecause of responsibility has long been assumed that the agriculturalrevolution spread towardsone's hosts, but alsobecause the politiciansuse the distant through Anatolia and Europe after originating in the Fertile pastto makeclaims about origins and identities.These claimsneed Crescent. Contemporaryversions of this view will be discussed to be tempered by the archaeological evidence, or at least the below. But recent comparativeresearch by Ozdogan (2002) has archaeologistneeds to providethe opportunityfor competing points suggested the importance of regional continuities in central of view to be takenup. The site and the datathat aremade known Anatolia. Certainly the evidence from Qatalh6yik shows by the archaeologistwill be used in one wayor anotherto support connections across a wider zone reaching into the Levant and politicalclaims-in my view it is unethicalfor the archaeologiststo middleMesopotamia. The use of lime plasterin the earliestlevels washtheir hands of thisprocess and to remaindisengaged. is parallelto its use in the Pre-PotteryNeolithic B in the Levant. The figurewith upraisedarms and legs is found at G6bekli and TheLocal Communities Ko?kH6yiik (Schmidt 2001; Oztan 2002). And of course more The Turkishmen and women who work on the project come generic traits such as the bull heads and female figurines and mainlyfrom the localvillage of Ku?ukkiy(1 km fromthe site) and burialsbeneath floors are widely found. Plastered skulls from K6sk fromthe local town of Cumra(15 km fromthe site). They workin H6yukrecall those fromthe Levant (Oztan2002). On the other a variety of capacities from laborers to guards and guides to hand, Ozdogan points to distinctly regional traits in central flotationassistants and heavyresidue sorters. Increasingly the site Anatolia such as the lack of centralized authority. There are has been visited by local people from other neighboringvillages undoubtedly distinctive characteristics of the Qatalh6yiik and towns and fromthe regionalcenter at Konya.What types of evidence that suggest a local process of development, even if questions are these stakeholdersinterested in, and how can we influencedby the Near East. contributeto theirinterests in and understandingof the site? Such evidence says nothing, of course, about the continuity Many of the local rural inhabitants are farmers with low betweenthe past and the present,but it reinforcesthe interestsof incomesand limitededucation. Their knowledgeabout the site is local politiciansin the distinctivecontributions of theirregion. As obtainedfrom primary school and fromfolk traditions.In general, archaeologists,we have to resist, however,those politiciansthat they have little detailedknowledge of the historyand prehistoryof wish to take the evidence towardsan extreme interpretationin Turkeyand the Konya region. Their interests in the site thus terms of cultural or racial superiority.The archaeological and include more practical concerns, such as how to benefit historical evidence indicates a long period of cultural mixing economicallyfrom the project,the site and its tourists.Up to forty between local traditionsand outside influence. Even the DNA or fiftypeople are employedby the projectfor a few monthsevery evidencewill not resolvethe issuesof "whowe are,"since answers year.A villagerfrom Ku?ukk6y has built a caf6 and shop outside to that questionare as much social,cultural and historicalas they the entrance to the site, and the women from the village sell are genetic.The importantpoint is that archaeologistsare able to embroidered cloth at the dig house. The project has also enter into a debate with local politicians about issues in which contributed to the diggingof a new well and the provision of a they show a primeconcern. new water supply.The project has helped to persuaderegional From time to time, a very different type of politician visits officialsto builda new schoolin the village,and it has contributed Qatalh6yiik. For example, the Ambassador of the European a libraryto the village. Union makesvery different speeches when he speaksto the press As alreadynoted, findingout what the local communitieswant at the site. His aim is to speakto those in Turkeywho, in contrast to know aboutthe site is a specializedtask and the ethnographers to the nationalist politicians, wish to take Turkey into the who work with us have been involved in various schemes to EuropeanUnion. The Ambassadortalks of the fact that there educate and engage the local communities in the site and the was no boundary between Europe and Asia at the time of project.For example, Ayfer Bartu has given talksabout the project Catalh6yiik.He refers to the evidence we have discussed with in the village.She has also assistedthe womenfrom the villageto him for cultural contacts between central Anatolia and set up a communityexhibit in the VisitorCenter at the dig house. southeasternEurope in the Neolithic. He is fascinatedwhen we In this exhibit,the womenchose to concentrateon the plantsthat describeto him the workof Colin Renfrew(1987) on the spread growon the mound,which areimportant as herbsand medicines. of Indo-Europeanlanguages and on the relationshipbetween that In 2001, a groupof men and womenfrom the villagewere asked languagedispersal and the spreadof farmingfrom Anatolia into to take part in our post-excavation studies. They were paid to Europe.He takesthis as proofof his view that "originally"Turkey contribute to discussions about the interpretation of the site,

176 NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) were very elaborate. Particularly in the early levels we have evidence of considerablelime burningto make high qualitylime floors, which were painted. The location of the site low down within the plain gives easy access to the wide range of lime-rich claysand marlsneeded for the plasteringand sculpturewithin the buildings.These factors, as much as subsistenceresources, may have determinedthe locationof the site. Much of the evidence that we have consideredshows that, at least in the earlier levels of the site, the subsistence economy was diverse and small scale. There were domesticated cereals and sheep and goat, but these were only part of a patchworkof resourcesused, some obtained from great distances such as the hackberry.There is much evidence also that in the early levels these resourceswere largelycollected within a domestic mode Membersof the localvillage community contributing to laboratory of production. Storage evidence is small-scale and within- discussionsabout the interpretationof analyticalresults from ?(atalh6oyk. house. There are only small containers (pots, baskets, wooden bowls) and small grinding stones. At least in the early levels based on the most recent analyticalresults that were explained these domestic units collected a wide range of resourcesover a to them. These discussions were put on video and their complexseasonal round. There was undoubtedlycooperation at commentswill be transcribedand used as verbatimquotes in the supra-houselevels, but much of daily subsistence was carried publication texts. The types of question to which they could out at a small-scalelevel. most effectively contribute were those that related to the We can, then, attempt to answersome of the local questions practicesof living in the central Anatolian environment.Thus about the site. But it is also importantnot to promote the view they were able to contribute to issues of how ovens of different that somehowthe local communitiesare "lostin time,"leftovers shape and made of differentclays could be used. They knew the from prehistory. It is not surprising, perhaps, that the local effect of the dominant winds communityis most interested on the location of fireplacesin in locality and land use. But it houses. They contributed to / / wouldbe wrongto assumethat issues regardingthe difficulties It wouldb e wrongto assume there is some continuous of life in the winter. connection be-tween past and One question that most that the local co)m imunities are an present.Historically there has interested them was "why "other that is sc ehow closer been much in and out here?"They were particularly )n nenowcloser to migration. There has been interestedin why this particular massive social and cultural prehistorythan cv veare. ^* ^ are bit of land was chosen for the vje change over the last nine site. They wereinterested in the millennia. It would be wrong specificsof the locality,and how to assume that the local it was used for agricultureand food. In fact, it has proveddifficult communitiesare an "other"that is somehowcloser to prehistory to answerthe question "whyhere?" Much work on establishing than "we"are (Fabian1983). The local communitiescontribute to the landscapeand palaeoenvironmenthas been done by a team the projectand askquestions of it that relateto theirknowledge of led by Neil Roberts,based on the sedimentology and pollen of the environmentand its soils. They do not have some privileged corestaken fromaround the site and in the region.It is clearthat knowledgebased on culturalcontinuity. To claimthat wouldbe to at the time of the site's occupation there was severe seasonal "museumize"the local communities. floodingand wetlandsin the vicinity of the site. This location is reflected in the numberof water birds found at the site. It was TheGoddess Communities thereforesurprising to find that the cerealphytoliths being studied Another set of communities interested in the work of the by ArleneRosen indicated dry-land farming. The archaeobotanical projectat the site is definedby an interestin the Goddess.Groups team also found an association between cereals and dry-land on Goddesstours regularly visit the site fromthe USA, Germany, weeds.At the time, the nearestdry land was 10-12 km away.Most Istanbuland elsewhere.They come to pray,hold circledances, feel dataspecialists agreed that the site wouldhave been betterlocated the powerof the Goddess,and even eat the earth of the mound! up the local river system towards higher and drier land. For There is a great diversity of such groups from Gaia groups, to example, a wetland is not an ideal environment for domestic Ecofeminists,to GoddessNew Age travelers.Individuals are often sheep. Why was the site located where it was, in a wetland?One visiblymoved by the experienceof visiting and it is undoubtedly possible answer is that we have much evidence now that the the case that formany the existenceof the Goddessat Qatalhyiik plasteringof housesand the use of mudfor building at Catalhyiik is importantfor their personalsense of identity.The projecthas

NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) 177 entered into dialoguewith some membersof the variedGoddess symbolicassociations between women and plants. The famous groupson its website, and some of the researchdirections being figurineof a womansitting on a seat of felineswas foundin a grain takenresult from these interactions. bin, and recently the projecthas found a small clay figurineof a One specific offshoot of the interest in the site fromwomen's womanwith breasts,in the back of which was a cavitycontaining movements was a fashion show staged in Istanbul by Bahar a small wild seed. Women are more often shown in a seated Korean, a Turkish/internationaldress designer. She based an position.In the art,there are scenesof beardedfigures involved in exhibition on the theme of Qatalhoyiik and "women of other animalbaiting and hunting and dancing.These clear differences times."The clotheswere inspired by the site, the cat-walkwas "in" in the depiction of men and women in the art may not relate to a model of Qatalhoyiik, and slides of the site and its art were gendereddifferences in the practicesof dailylife. Rather,they may shown in the backgroundas partof a multi-mediaexperience. In be metaphorical and idealized. But, in my view, there are no fact, the show was a major press and TV event, with the top unambiguousdepictions of women giving birth, or suckling or popularsinger at the time, Tarkan,making an appearance.The tending children. In other words, there is little evidence of the presscoverage extended globally to France,Japan and beyond. "Mother."Women are certainlydepicted in powerfulpositions, The variedGoddess groups with an interestin Qatalhoyiikask such as sittingon felineswith theirhands resting on the heads,but differentquestions of the site. Some take a strongline regarding there is no good evidence that this symbolicpower derived from the role of womenin the past,arguing that womenwere dominant the "Mother"idea, rather than from other attributesof women and that the society was peaceful and without violence. Others such as theirsexuality or theirproductive capacities. want simply to engage in the site from a spiritualand religious These arguments, that women may not have had clearly point of view. Others have an educated interest in the evidence genderedroles in practice,and that their symbolicsignificance is for the role of womenat the site nine thousandyears ago. not necessarilyrelated to the "Mother"idea, have angeredmany It is not possiblefor archaeologiststo contributeto the religious in the Goddesscommunities, but it wouldbe unethicalto carryon view that the goddessis presentat Qatalhyuiik.But it is possibleto supportingarguments for which thereappears to be little evidence. tryand respondto those women'sgroups that want to know about Manyfollowers of the Goddesshave engagedin dialogueand have the role of women at the site. Was Gimbutas (1982) right in been able to see that the new evidencecan be incorporatedinto a arguingfor a powerfulposition for women, even a matriarchy,at revised perspective-for example, one in which women were these earlysites? Can we identifythe rolesof men and women? powerfulfor reasons other than mothering and in which some The workof the recent projectat Qatalhoyuikhas been unable equality existed in practice. Thus it is possible to ask questions to identifyclear differences between the rolesof men and women that are of interest to particulargroups, and then to enter into a in theirdaily lives. Forexample, if womenwere centrallyinvolved dialoguethat can contributeto changedperspectives. in plant processing and cooking in the house, we might have expected some clear spatial differentiation between such Artists activitiesand those associatedwith men. It is often assumedthat One of the most surprising components of the renewed men would have made obsidian tools, or at least obsidian research at Qatalhoyiik has been the way in which the site projectile points. But at Qatalhoyuikwe have found that most attractsa varietyof artists.These again vary in termsof specific houses have obsidiancaches near the hearth and oven, and that motivation and interest. They include those who create works there is clear evidence of knappingdebris in these same areas. or performances about the site at other venues, and those There are many ways of interpretingsuch evidence, but it is at involved in installation art at the site. There is also some least clear that there is no supportfor distinct genderedactivity overlap with the Goddess groups as several of the artists are areas.Other evidence is less ambiguous.Stable isotope studiesof inspired by the notion that women at Qatalhyuiikhad a more human bone at the site have shown no clear dietarydifferences powerfulrole than in contemporarysociety. betweenmales and females(Richards and Pearson2003), and the One exampleis Jale Yilmaba?ar,an artistworking in Istanbul. same is true of teeth-wearstudies (Andrews,Molleson and Boz She recently held an exhibit of paintings in Istanbul that 2003). We have found no systematicdifferences in the location referredto the paintings that Mellaart has argued come from and layout of male and female bodies and graves (Hamilton the site. Originally known in Turkeyas a ceramicist, she has 2003). A few individualsat Qatalhyuikhad their heads removed recently turned more to oil paintings, and her canvases are after burial. These heads were later used in foundation and large, bold and colorful. She is not particularly interested in abandonmentceremonies, and it is reasonableto suppose that the site itself; more with the waysin which the project, and I as they were involved in relationsof inheritanceor affiliation.If so, its director,can provide an extra dimension and validation to it is of interest that both male and female skulls were removed her work. Thus, I have been asked to name the paintings for and depositedin this way.It was as importantto establishsocial her, and have been picturedin cataloguesholding conversations relationsthrough women as it was throughmen. with her in front of the paintings. So there is nothing to suggestthat men and women lived very The pianist and composerTuluyhan Ugurlu gave a concert in differentgendered lives at Qatalhoyuik.There is no evidence that Istanbulinspired by Qatalhoyuk.His musicis popularand it mixes in practice, gender was very importantin assigningsocial roles. a variety of styles including Turkishmotifs. He was trained as a However,there are some clear differencesin the art, and some concert pianist and composer mainly in Austria and describes

178 NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) himself as ethnic, classical and New Age. He decided to write music about (atalhoyuk because of its global and New Age associations,but also because he came from Konya.One of the main partsof the concert centered on a poem written by Resit Ergener,a Turkisheconomist and tourguide, and co-organizerand leaderof manyof the Goddesstours to (atalhoyuk. The concert also used slides and images,taken fromthe projectwebsite. The musicacted as a "frame"around the slides,which he watchedas he playedand to whichhe partlyimprovised. Orge Tulga, who had a gallery exhibit of her gold and silver jewelryon displayin Istanbulin 2002, explainedhow her designs were inspiredby and based on the art of (atalhoyuk, especially the Goddessimagery. She also said how much she wantedto visit the site: "Iwant to come and feel the atmosphere.I want to live there a little." The "atmosphere" referred to here is partly spiritual.This linkingof performance,art and spiritualityat the site itself is seen particularlyin the work of Adrienne Momi. Again an organizerof Goddesstours, and basedin Califoria, she Reconstructionby John Swogger of the interiorof Building1 as has constructedinstallation art at a numberof prehistoricsites in seen from the entrance ladder, looking north into the main room Europe.In 2001 she made a spiralon the site itself. She worked with paintings around the northwest platform under which there is closely with the archaeologicalteam, learningabout the current a concentration of young people buried. interpretationsof the site. She engaged local people and school childrenin her art-which involved makingpaper on site, then archaeologicalillustrator at Gatalhoyiiksince 1998. He adamantly makingstamps based on the art from the site, and then printing identifieshimself as an illustratorrather than an artist,but as an these designs onto the paper and sticking the paperon a large illustratorwho is pushingthe rigidboundaries of archaeological paperspiral laid out on the grassslope of the Neolithic mound. illustration(Swogger 2000). By defyingthe strict,but what he sees She was carefulto get officialpermission and throughoutworked as artificial,boundaries between the media consideredto be the in a consensualway. The spiraland the art weremeant to provide domainof the "artists"and the domainof the "thearchaeological a channel of communicationwith the subconsciousof the site. illustrators,"he suggests that all these media can be seen as a She called her installation "Turning Through Time: "tool-a mechanism or process for recording and presenting Communicationwith the distantpast at Qatalhyiik." archaeologicalinformation in visual form."He also arguesthat There are variousways in which artistscan be engagedin the such an expansion and broadening of the definition of what archaeological project. Another example involves the artists archaeologicalillustration is gives the illustratorthe freedomto employed by the project itself to illustrate the finds and embrace different types of media and styles that will enable architecture. John Swogger has been working as an on-site exploration of different aspects of archaeologicalinformation. What he does is to create reconstructionsbased on the evidence provided by different specialists at the site. These sketches, drawings,and reconstructionsprovide means of visualizingvarious findings,interpretations, hypotheses, and theories. As Swogger points out, "combinedwith a processof exploringnew modes of visual expression and looking carefully at the way 'art' can illustratethe dataof'science,' there could be here the potentialfor creating a powerful and important tool for managing on-site interpretationand analysis"(2000: 149). His illustrations and reconstructions have been integrated within the recording, analysis,and publicpresentation of the findingsfrom the site. Another artist, Nessa Leibhammer, also works as an illustrator, but she uses more straightforward artistic conventions and does not attempt to use detailed measured drawings.She feels that the scientific codified drawingsdo not capturethe full sense of what is seen. Her more interpretiveand aesthetic drawingscomplement the more scientific depictions. In contrast to Swogger'sillustrations, Leibhammer's images are artistic and personal interpretive drawings that focus on the AdrienneMomi workinq on her art spiralat Catalhoyuk. visible,physical aspects of archaeology,such as walls, rooms,and

NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) 179 spaces, ratherthan reconstructionsthat attempt to incorporate wall (Cessford 2003). This suggests a clear memory of the all the evidence from the site. But her drawings have also location of these bucrania, and their retrieval, perhaps to use enriched and become part of the archaeological archive of in later houses. The retention of animal heads in this way Qatalhoyuk.Her drawingsand paintingsprovide a fullersense of recalls the removal of heads from human skeletons buried depth and volume in the complex wall plasters, and they are below floors. It seems feasible that the plastered animal heads moresuccessful at this than the measuredline drawings. acted as mnemonics of important events in the history of So, one wayof involvingartists in the archaeologicalproject is households, and that they acted as markers of lineage and to engage them in the processof recordingand expression.But ancestry.They were incorporatedinto the fabric of the house, anotherresponse is to attempt to answerthe questionsthey ask literally holding it up. aboutthe roleof"art" at ?(atalhoyuknine thousandyears ago. The The geometric paintings are very different in their social artistsbring their contemporaryassumptions about aesthetics, roles. Through most of the life of any particular house, the framingand specialistproduction. And yet can we talk about the walls were white. But for short periods of time they became transformed into a blaze of color and activity, either as figurative or geometric paintings. The paintings were then plasteredover and the walls revertedto their plain form. Here I can only comment on the geometric painting as we have not found figurativenarrative scenes in the recent excavations.But in Building 1, a clue as to the function of these paintings has been found. Here there is a spatial and temporal link between geometric painting and the burialof mainly young people. It is the northwestplatform in the main room that is surroundedby painting during part of the occupation of the house. It is this platformunder which young people were preferentiallyburied. But there is also a temporallink. It is alwaysdifficult to assess which wall plaster goes with which floor plaster, and only approximatecorrelations could be made in Building 1. But in general terms the phases of painting corresponded to the phasesof burialunder this platform.One possibleinterpretation Nessa Leibhammer an artistic of the same feature that doing drawing of this link is that the geometric acted in some to is drawn conventions. painting way being- using- archaeological- protect or to communicate with the dead below the platform. Gell (1998) has discussed the apotropaic use of art, and this symbolismat Qatalhoyik in these terms?Was this "art"at all? seems a reasonableinterpretation in the case of Building 1. A What was the roleof the "art?"How can we interpretit? comparableassociation has been found in the adjacentBuilding I wishto suggestfirst of all that thereare many different types of 3 (Stevanovic and Tringham1999), where again the northwest "art"at (atalhoyuk and that explanations will vary for the platformcontained most burialin the main room, and red paint different types. I want here to restrict my comments to two concentrated (or was best preserved)on the walls around this particular classes of "art"at the site. The first is the relief same northwestplatform. sculpture.This is installedand remainsas partof the house over a So in both cases the "art"is not "art"in the sense of something long time. The second is the geometricpaintings. These occuron simplyto be contemplatedwith aestheticsensibilities. Rather, art some wall plasters,but in any one house there may be over one at (atalhoyiik does something(Gell 1998). It can be interpreted hundredyearly replasterings of the wallsin the mainroom. Few of as playing a social role in relation to lineage and in relation to these are ever painted.The paintingsare transientand probably interactionwith the dead. In this sense it perhapscontrasts with have a differentexplanation from the reliefsculptures. the activities of the contemporaryartists at (atalhyiik. At one Let us take the relief sculpturesfirst. These are incorporated level too, their art, especiallythe installationart, is designed to into the architectureof the buildings.For example, bull horns do something. And yet it remains an aesthetic expression may be set deeply into bricks in the walls, and plastered somewhatremoved from daily practice. It can be arguedthat the bucrania may be set on the upright posts that hold up the nine thousand year old "art"at (atalhoyik is closer to science roof. The bucraniaand relief leopardsoften have evidence of than it is to contemporary art, in the sense that it aims to repeated painting, and may have lasted throughout the intervenein the world,to understandhow it works,to change it. lifetime of a house. In addition, during the abandonment of Thus the dialoguebetween ancient and contemporaryartists can the house, as in Building 2 (Farid 2003), bucrania and other lead to changesof perspectiveboth for artistsand archaeologists. sculpture were removed from western walls in the main The dialogue challenges the tendency among contemporary rooms. In the case of Building 1, the building was filled up artists to appropriatethe art into their own perspective. The with soil on abandonment, and then some decades later a archaeologicalevidence can contribute to an understandingof trench was dug down to remove sculpture from the western the "otherness"of prehistoricart.

180 NEAREASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 65:3 (2002) Ethicsand Hamilton,N. Archaeology 2003 Social of Burial.In edited In a world, work with Aspects Qatalhoyiik1995-1999, by globalized archaeologistsincreasingly I. Hodder. McDonaldInstitute and communities.I have tried to of some Cambridge: Monographs multiple provideexamples BritishInstitute of at Ankara. of the and issues that are raised in such a context. I Archaeology problems Jones,M. have tried to suggest that rather than just setting our own 2001 The MoleculeHunt: Archaeology and the Searchfor Ancient agenda, it is possible to negotiate research questions with a DNA. London:Allen Lane. numberof groups.It is possibleto collaboratewith these groups Malhi,R.; VanTuinen, M.; Mountain,J.; Hodder, I.; and Hadly,E. A. in relationto the answersgiven and the interpretationsmade. 2003 PilotProject: Catalhoyuk Ancient DNA Study.In Qatalhoyiik Qatalh6yiik is perhaps an extreme site in that so many 1995-1999,edited by I. Hodder.Cambridge: McDonald Institute stakeholder groups are involved. On the other hand, in many Monographsand British Institute of Archaeologyat Ankara. of the world archaeologists work in the context of Mellaart,J. parts 1967 A NeolithicTown in Anatolia.London: Thames contested I have tried to here that QatalHuiyiik: pasts. argue archaeologists and Hudson. have an ethical to ask about the responsibility questions past Ozdogan,M. that resonate with stakeholdercommunities. But it is also clear 2002 Definingthe Neolithicof CentralAnatolia. Pp 253-61 in The that the answers to such questions may be uncomfortablefor Neolithic of Central Anatolia, edited by F. Gerard and L. specific stakeholdergroups. They may involve the archaeologist Thissen.Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari. taking a stance with regard to how the data can be used to Oztan,A. support arguments that are made by interested parties. 2002 K6skH6yiik: New Contributionsto AnatolianArchaeology. Archaeologybecomes reflexivelypart of the social process. Tiiba-Ar5: 57-72. Renfrew,C. Note 1987 Archaeologyand Language. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Richards,M. and Pearson,J. 1. I am gratefulto all the membersof the CatalhoyiikProject for the work 2003 StableIsotope Evidence of Diet at Qatalhiyiik.In Qatalhyiik on which this paperis based,and to the TurkishMinistry of Culture,The 1995-1999,edited by I. Hodder.Cambridge: McDonald Institute British Institute of Archaeologyat Ankara, and all our sponsors.This Monographsand British Institute of Archaeologyat Ankara. article is the revisedversion of a lecture deliveredat the W. E Albright Schmidt,K. Instituteof Researchin March2002, when the authorwas Archaeological 2001 GobekliTepe, Southeastern Turkey: A PreliminaryReport on the thirdTrude Dothan Lecturerin Ancient Near EasternStudies. This the 1995-1999 Excavations.Paleorient 26(1): 45-54. whichalso includes lectures at Al-Quds and the Hebrew series, University Stevanovic,M. and Tringham,R. was the Instituteand endowed the University, sponsoredby Albright by 1999 The BachArea 1999. QatalNews 6: 3-5 DorotFoundation. Swogger,J. 2000 Imageand Interpretation:The Tyrannyof Representation?Pp References 178-99 in TowardsReflexive Methods in Archaeology:The Andrews,P; Molleson,T; and Boz,B. Exampleat Qatalhoyiik,edited by I. Hodder. Cambridge: 2003 The HumanBurials at Catalh6yiik.In Qatalhoyiik1995-1999, McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research/British edited by I. Hodder. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Instituteof Archaeologyat Ankara,Monograph 289. Monographsand BritishInstitute of Archaeologyat Ankara. Appadurai,A. 1996 Modernityat Large.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Bhabha,H. 1994 TheLocation of Culture.London: Routledge. w~lI.~I~,~ISJgGw (RI Cessford,C. 2003 The North Area. In Catalhoyiik1995-1999, edited by I. Hodder.Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographsand lan Hodder is Dunlevie Family BritishInstitute of Archaeologyat Ankara. Professor in the Department of Fabian,J. Culturaland SocialAnthropology at 1983 Timeand the Other:How Makesits New Anthropology Object. Stanford University. His books York:Columbia University. include Spatial Analysis in Farid,S. Archaeology (1976, Cambridge, 2003 The South Area. In Qatalhoyiik1995-1999, edited by I. withC. in Action Hodder.Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographsand Orton),Symbols BritishInstitute of Archaeologyat Ankara. (1982, Cambridge),Reading the Gell, A. Past (1986, Cambridge), The 1998 Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Oxford: Domestication of Europe (1990, Clarendon. Blackwell)and The Archaeological Gimbutas,M. Process(1999, Blackwell). Ian Hodder 1982 The Goddessesand Godsof Old Europe.London: Thames and Hudson.

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