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At the Trowel's Edge BOOKS & ARTS NATURE|Vol 435|19 May 2005 farmers, anti-globalization campaigners and ‘us versus them’ or (even worse) a ‘reason versus tions of Çatalhöyük and its remarkable finds, various kinds of academic philosopher and unreason’ stand-off. but does not answer them. He explains the sig- sociologist, one wonders whether the epithet Those of us who seriously advocate closer nificance of Çatalhöyük as the earliest known “unreason” has lost its critical edge. What do all public engagement in science and science site with domesticated cattle (a conclusion these different groups really have in common? policy-making are not motivated by anti- contradicted by recent zooarchaeological Are they on the same side, intellectually or scientific or antirational sentiments. Rather, analyses). Although Çatalhöyük was an unusu- practically speaking? And if so, what side is it? we recognize that making decisions about how ally dense settlement with bull’s horns embed- The problem is at its most severe where to conduct and apply science and technology ded in some walls, and some female figurines, Taverne deals with intellectual criticism of in advanced industrial societies is a complex no credible hypothesis is ever offered for the various types of scientific and science-policy and difficult business. Experts of various sorts meaning of these odd features. In fact, the practice. Noting the call for “more democratic have essential roles to play, and so too do reader never learns much about the life of science”, he concedes that the public and its democratic representatives. But it is increas- those who lived there, despite the astonishing representatives have an important role to play ingly becoming clear that the establishment number of human skeletons buried under the in the development of science. But (in an argu- of sustainable policies in socially sensitive floors of houses. All this extraordinary evi- mentative style that is repeated throughout areas of science and technology is facilitated dence begs for an explanation. the book), having conceded this important by the engagement of others in the process — There are also myriad questions about Mel- point, he immediately undermines it by such as special-interest groups, stakeholder laart. In the bizarre ‘Dorak affair’, Mellaart was blaming those who are working to make sci- groups and citizens’ groups. purportedly shown a treasure trove of looted ence more responsive to public interests and Frankly, tarring efforts to achieve wider artefacts from northern Turkey by a mysteri- concerns for having “driven scientists onto the engagement in science and technology policy- ous woman who subsequently disappeared. defensive”. This charge immediately reduces making with the broad brush of ‘antiscience’ Only Mellaart’s drawings and descriptions of what is an important area of constructive or ‘unreason’ is simply not helpful. ■ the artefacts remained. An inquiry conducted debate, about the way that science policy should John Durant is chief executive of At-Bristol, by the British Institute at Ankara exonerated be conducted in advanced democracies, to an Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5DB, UK. Mellaart from any involvement in looting, but even so, Mellaart’s excavation was shut down in 1965. In 1989, Mellaart, together with carpet specialists Belkis Balpinar and Udo Hirsch, At the trowel’s edge published The Goddess from Anatolia (Eske- nazi), which included stunning reconstruc- The Goddess and the Bull: Çatalhöyük: James Mellaart, and by more than 100 special- tions of 44 wall paintings from Çatalhöyük. An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn ists under Hodder’s modern (or post-modern) Why had there been no word of such glorious of Civilization direction. The most recent excavation, which art before? Blatant discrepancies between by Michael Balter began in 1993, is Hodder’s brave attempt to the book’s claims and Mellaart’s earlier pro- Free Press: 2005. 416 pp. $27, £18.99 integrate his theoretical stance with field prac- nouncements cast doubt on the paintings’ very tice. The new methodology includes ongoing existence. Early reports described only red and Pat Shipman and constantly changing “interpretation at the black paint, not the striking blue in the new This book is about neither a goddess nor a trowel’s edge”, with computer diaries written reconstructions. Rooms identified in the book bull, unless Michael Balter is using a metaphor by the excavators, video recording of discus- as having magnificent wall paintings had been too subtle for me to appreciate. Indeed, The sions about interpretation and methodology earlier declared by Mellaart to have no paint- Goddess and the Bull is not really about the carried out in the trenches, and constant inter- ings. No excavator remembered seeing the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük either. After actions among scientists, locals, politicians, fragments upon which Mellaart’s reconstruc- much thought, I believe this is actually a post- goddess-worshippers, carpet scholars and tions were based. All corroborative evidence processual book about archaeology. other groups who claim some ‘ownership’ of had been destroyed by fire in 1967, Mellaart Post-processualism is a concept developed Çatalhöyük’s past. It is fair to say that Hodder’s told Balter. As Carl Lamberg-Karlovsky by Ian Hodder, a Cambridge-trained archaeol- task has been difficult and complex. remarked: “Bluntly put, there is no objective ogist who now works at Çatalhöyük in Turkey. Balter raises many compelling questions reason to believe that these ‘new’ wall paint- In its early formulation, Hodder suggested about the differing and changing interpreta- ings exist.” Further, Mellaart proposed that that the best way to approach archaeology is “characterized by debate and uncertainty about fundamental issues that may have been rarely questioned before”. He added that archaeolo- gists “move backwards and forwards between & A. MELLAART J. theory and data, trying to fit or accommodate one to the other in a clear and rigorous fash- ion, on the one hand being sensitive to the particularity of the data and on the other hand being critical about assumptions and theories.” Post-processual archaeology is a dialogue, not a diatribe. So too is this book, which provides a great deal of information: about archaeological theory, methodology and traditional interpre- tations of Çatalhöyük, one of the famous (or infamous) sites that inspired the concept of the Neolithic revolution. There have been decades of excavation by the original site director, The horns of a dilemma: what is the meaning of this painting of a red bull found at Çatalhöyük? 278 © 2005 Nature Publishing Group NATURE|Vol 435|19 May 2005 BOOKS & ARTS the paintings were linked to patterns found Grant’s detailed and well orga- on Turkish kilims today, but the Çatalhöyük nized biography is a treasure. From patterns cannot be made into rugs using the the waters of Bermuda to the weaving technology preserved at the site. jungles of Venezuela, Beebe was The book details much debate but few tireless in his enthusiasm for conclusions. The result is a good read that understanding the living world, bespeaks the importance of this enigmatic and and he provided the inspiration iconic site and highlights Balter’s considerable for many scientific careers. journalistic skills. The book is both accessible Brad Matsen’s Descent focuses SOCIETY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION and fascinating. Balter tries, with moderate on Beebe’s collaboration with Otis success, to show us how personality, national- Barton and their bathysphere ity and the training of the scientists involved dives. In the 1930s, they plunged influences their scientific ideas. six times deeper than anyone Yet the book left me distinctly dissatisfied: before and became the first people I learned more about the childhoods of the to see deep-sea life in situ. “No excavation team members than about ancient human eye had glimpsed this part Çatalhöyük. This is an intelligent, provocative of the planet before us,” wrote Bar- book by a distinguished science writer who ton, often considered the more visited the site every field season for six years, prosaic of the pair, “this pitch- interviewed the excavators, and read their The descent of man: William Beebe (left) and Otis Barton black country lighted only by the publications, which are referenced in extensive used their bathysphere to explore the ocean depths. pale gleam of an occasional spiral- notes and a lengthy bibliography. The scholars ling shrimp.” Matsen offers a wor- who have worked at Çatalhöyük are impres- But as these three books charting the history thy tribute to their remarkable achievement, sive, the duration of excavations far in excess of deep-sea science reveal, that golden age and explores the tensions between them. His of normal expectations. Why then is so much never existed. account is captivating, although not as lavishly about Çatalhöyük so unclear? Fathoming the Ocean by Helen Rozwadowski referenced as Gould’s biography. Perhaps the reason is Balter’s adherence to a chronicles the birth of deep-sea oceanography, In the days before research councils and Hodder-like reluctance to settle on a single from early observations by Benjamin Franklin national science foundations, Beebe was using interpretation for a site that means so much to to the voyage of HMS Challenger in the 1870s. publicity and popular accounts of his work so many. What are we to think, then, of Çatal- She weaves a rich narrative from the work of to charm funds from philanthropists. Like höyük and its evidence, excavators, myths? renowned as well as lesser-known oceanogra- some who popularize their research today, he That remains the post-processual question. ■ phers. While unearthing the foundations of sometimes encountered snobbery from his Pat Shipman is in the Department of the subject, she reveals some striking parallels academic peers. But deep-sea research has Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, with modern research careers. always been newsworthy and captured the 315 Carpenter Building, University Park, Like today, there was plenty of job-hopping, public imagination.
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