| Entry: | Ok, so today worked in the floor / structural collapse / burnt house fill, etc. area in space 310. Most of today was spent reducing the overall level in uneven areas and trying to figure out if we had structural collapse or a floor. Most of us, including myself, Eva and then Shahina upon visiting think that it is wall melt / plaster and mud brick collapse within this area of the structure. I took a sample of a small section of red paint / pigment / plaster from a chunk of plaster that may be a larger collapsed section and also found a small fragment of rock crystal (X-1).
I haven’t listed a unit yet because there was a bit of confusion with this. Yesterday Ros had opened up a new unit sheet, 14282, and at first I was working in this unit, but we decided there wasn’t a real difference as we weren’t actually at a first, so we reverted everything back to 14279, which Alex opened as the second house fill (the first fill was from last season).
It’s too bad all of the excavations architecture is on the edges of the tent, as it means part of the day one group will be in direct sunlight. Unfortunately for me, I’m in direct sunlight during the afternoon work period, which is not pleasant. Will have to find some spare cloth to be cut or bandana or scarf type material to protect my neck, as my hat isn’t large enough to block sunlight to all of it. Used one of Katie’s shirts today and was told I looked like a metrosexual by Eva, heh heh.
I plan on helping Ingmar with database design stuff during this work session, so, I’m concluding this more quickly. I am becoming somewhat interested in mace head / sling stone issues after we found a probable sling stone today in Tom and Naomie’s unit. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence for inter-societal conflict in Catalhoyuk from what I’ve seen, but I am interested in the Neolithic context for these mace / scepter heads. Even if not being used as actual weapons, I’m curious whether or not execution would have been an option for the equivalent of witches, criminals, etc., as even if the mace or scepter is symbolic of power, the power it symbolizes is often linked to the same authority which can be drawn upon to remove undesirables from a community. From ethnographic studies, capital punishment seems to be present at various forms of social organization and “complexity” and is not necessarily correlated with other forms of warfare or violence.
I’m in the difficult situation right now trying to decide what my future might be with the project if I continue to work here, and as the Neolithic isn’t my main area, I would probably need a topical or methodological area to contribute to. Violence and warfare is one of my main topics of study, as is GIS survey and archaeological prospecting. Seeing as most of what’s here is site specific, I’d be interested in exploring the idea of violence at the site. Most of the violent symbolism in the wall-paintings from the East mound is directed at large animal targets, which, as Shahina explained to me, is generally interpreted as envisioning animals as large and dangerous, and this may explain the settlement nucleations, etc. for the period. This is quite plausible, though I am also thinking about the fact that big game hunting and associated trophy display seems to be very highly associated with warfare ethno-historically, as the same communal bonds that facilitate group hunting often facilitate line battles, etc.
There are exceptions, and as the ethnographic “present” is not clean of Western impacts and this may affect what we see ethnographically (a la the Tribal Zone hypothesis, Ferguson, Whitehead, etc.), Catalhoyuk’s context could be quite different, and big game hunting may have had nothing to do with other forms of violence. Still, I am generally quite convinced of the fact that training for hunting is one way in which males are generally socialized for warfare and the general conduct of violence. It’s an idea worth exploring for the Near Eastern Neolithic in general (and something to explore beyond the animal pens vs. fortifications arguments for Jericho, etc.), even if it goes nowhere.Entered By: BK |
