HODDER, I. (Ed.) — Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük Reports from the 1995-99 Seasons by Members of the Çatalhöyük Teams

0582_BIOR_2007_5-6_01 31-01-2008 13:23 Pagina 620 729 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 5-6, september-december 2007 730 ARCHEOLOGIE HODDER, I. (Ed.) — Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük reports from the 1995-99 seasons by members of the Çatalhöyük teams. (Çatalhöyük Research Project Vol- ume 5; BIAA Monograph No. 39). The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, London, 2005. (28,5 cm, XVIII, 395). ISBN 1-902937-28-7. ISSN 0969-9007 (BIAA); 1363-1349 (McDonald Institute). £ 59,00. ‘Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük’ is part of a series of volumes reporting on the results of the 1995-99 excavations at the site, including: ‘Excavating Çatalhöyük’ (Hod- der ed. 2007), which presents the architecture and stratigraphy; ‘Inhabiting Çatalhöyük’ (Hodder ed. 2005), which deals with ecological and biological data; and ‘Çatalhöyük Per- spectives’ (Hodder ed. 2006), which contains interpretative essays rather than excavation reports. Thus, eight years after the final season with which these reports deal a full and final set of publications is available. Anyone familiar with the nor- mal pace of publication in Near Eastern archaeology will appreciate the achievement of publishing these volumes within a few years and the value that these reports have for the discipline. Nonetheless one wonders whether this comprehensive publication format is the best solution in such a large and ongoing project as that executed at Çatalhöyük. The problem with such publications is that the pace is always set by the slow- est contributor, a factor which can delay publication for years on end. Since 1999 excavations have been ongoing on a con- stant basis at Çatalhöyük (the project is scheduled to last until 2017) in a large number of excavation areas, and much of 0582_BIOR_2007_5-6_01 31-01-2008 13:23 Pagina 621 731 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARCHEOLOGIE 732 what is published in the 1995-99 reports is already out of have benefited from such an approach: one can think of mak- date, or has to be modified as a result of data from later sea- ing replicas and testing these on various media, and of per- sons, but these insight could not be included in these books. forming chemical analyses on stamp seals to find out whether Also, many chapters were evidently written many years ago, they have any residues. Instead, the discussion is structured and as a result recent publications are rarely incorporated in by a discussion of the motifs on the ‘seals’ and the facile the chapters to the book. In this respect, the solution chosen assumption that seals elsewhere with similar motifs must be by the equally large and ambitious Troy project, to launch part of the same phenomenon. Likewise, the chapters on fig- the journal Studia Troica in which final reports can be pub- urines (9) and beads (14) by Hamilton amount to little more lished independent of other chapters, seems a much more than presenting a classification system, followed by a dis- appropriate strategy. cussion of the distribution of specific types in time and space. Another concern with the publication method is the CD that For example, where dealing with beads no discussion is has been included in the back of the book. Although such a included of how beads were arranged in necklaces, whether CD seems an expedient way of providing extra information there are differences between beads used for anklets, not included in the main book, the use of this medium raises bracelets, and necklaces, and whether these artefacts are more several concerns. Apart from the fact that such a CD is easily commonly buried with specific age or sex groups. In general lost, there are several issues: first, whether student working in these two chapters by Hamilton add little to her brilliant chap- libraries will be able to access this CD; second, even though ter in the first Çatalhöyük volume (Hamilton 1996). my computer is only 4 months old it has difficulty coping with Third, the chapters on pottery, clay balls, chipped stone, some of the files on the CD (such as the supplement to chap- ground stone, basketry, worked bone, and the obsidian mir- ter 11); third, one wonders if the format of the CD will be still rors, all provide excellent overviews of important find cate- be in use 20 years from now, and in this respect I feel that a gories. Although the chapter on obsidian mirrors (19) by web address where the CD files are also available should have Vedder was included on the CD rather than in the book it been printed both on the CD and on the back flap op the book provides a thorough study of the mirrors found in the 1960s (these files are not available through the project website at at Çatalhöyük, and also report on experimental reproductions www.catalhoyuk.com). Further, the CD has not been used only of obsidian mirrors, showing that these objects could be pro- to deposit catalogues, images, and tables. It includes signifi- duced with relatively little effort. In the chapter on basketry cant parts of the text of chapters 5, 11, and 13, as well as one (15) Wendrich provides a concise but very useful overview complete chapter (19). This is the sort of information that can- of the basketry types in use at Çatalhöyük, and the uses to not be considered as ‘extra’ but should have been included in which they could have been put. For example, it is demon- the main text. If that means the book would have become too strated that the baskets used for burials usually had signs of massive the solution would have been more thorough editing wear and tear, and that they were not made for burials pri- rather than placing files on the CD. marily. In the chapter on the ground stone industries (13) Changing Materialities deals predominantly with the arte- Baysal and Wright provide a clear and interesting synthesis facts found in the 1995-1999 seasons, with individual chap- of the ground stone industries at the site, which generally ters discussing specific find categories. This is manner of pre- seems to have been reworked and reused until fragmented senting data that was initially felt to be inadequate by the into small pieces. The material seems to have been predom- Çatalhöyük project (Conolly 2000). In retrospect, it must be inantly obtained from Karadag some 40 kilometres from the observed that despite an effort to launch novel ways of exca- site. vating and presenting data (Hodder ed. 2000), the final pub- The core of the book consists of the substantial chapters lications are not dissimilar from those produced by more tra- on pottery, clay balls, chipped stone industries and worked ditional projects. bone. In the chapter on worked bone (16) Russell provides a The volume contains chapters presenting the Çatalhöyük thorough discussion not only of the types of artefacts pro- pottery, the chipped stone industries, figurines, ground stone, duced, but also of production techniques and contextual clues beads, basketry, stamp seals, and clay balls. Less obvious to their function / meaning. She demonstrates that imitation chapters deal with absolute dating at the site (this would have red deer teeth beads are much more common than genuine been better included with the stratigraphy and structures vol- red deer teeth beads, and shows that ‘fish hooks’ is probably ume), and mud brick (which would have been better placed a misnomer, given their patterns of wear and the absence of with the chapters on building technologies in the Inhabiting fish of a suitable size in the faunal assemblages. Çatalhöyük volume). Atalay (chapter 6) has made an extensive study of the clay The quality of the chapters in the Changing Materialities balls that are commonly found in the Çatalhöyük excavations. volume varies greatly. First, there are several chapters that Is to the credit of the Çatalhöyük project that such find cat- are no more than very short sketches that add little to the egories, which are often ignored in other excavations, have overall volume, apart from advertising the fact that some top- been seriously studied. In contrast to Mellaart, who seems to ics require further investigation. Chapters of this category have interpreted these clay balls as sling shots, Atalay argues include those on the mud brick (10) by Tung, ground stone that these objects were in use for cooking, by placing these raw material (17) by Türkmenoglu et al., and bead material objects in a hearth and subsequently in containers with liq- identification (18) by Jackson. Each of these chapters are only uids or roasting pits, and that their importance declined with a few pages long and deal mainly with research methodolo- the development of pottery that was suitable for cooking on gies or list results without exploring their significance. a fire in the upper levels (from level VII onwards) of Çatal- Second, there are a number of chapters that address their höyük. Although I applaud the efforts made by the author, respective topics more extensively, but which would nonethe- the chapter could have been cut back substantially without less have benefited from a more creative and thorough dis- losing much of its content, given that much of it is reflexive cussion. The chapter on stamp seals (8) by Türkcan would rather than to the point. 0582_BIOR_2007_5-6_01 31-01-2008 13:23 Pagina 622 733 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 5-6, september-december 2007 734 The chapter on pottery (5) by Last presents the first sys- Apart from the chapters on find categories that form the tematic study of one of the earliest pottery assemblages of bulk of the book, there are also a number of chapters that deal the Near East.

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