| Entry: | This is my first diary entry for the final excavation season at Catalhoyuk. Surprisingly, it makes me quite emotional to think that I wont be back to excavate here again, something that has been – on and off - a part of my entire adult life. What more is that I did not think I would feel sad to leave mid way through this season as I leave my place for James. I have a slight sense of disappointment that wont see the fruits of these early days as I aid the new excavators in getting acquainted with the system and the archaeology. Perhaps my sentimentality arises from the fact that my responsibilities have doubled with the addition of the South Area to my supervision. The South Shelter: Mellaart’s famous trench, my first experience, the trench that makes visitors go ‘oooh’ or ‘aaah’ once they enter and see the great gap and the various buildings poking through. And all of this, over 1000 years of continuous Neolithic occupation, captured through a single stratigraphic strand. But enough sentimentality.
The weeks excavations have mostly focused on completing opened contexts from the previous year. In the South two burials contexts were focused on in the northern end of the building, within platforms F.3442 and F.3441. F.7400 in platform F.3442 seems to have been cut into an earlier phase of the platform which led to the removal of a thick packing layer. And of course its removal led to the discovery of other burials. On platform F.3441 Katy removed a juvenile from burial F.7419. This burial, upon its interment disturbed an earlier adult burial. She began to remove the platform makeup to come down onto the surface in which the earlier burial was cut into.
In Space 565 Christina removed burial F.8008 which had been partially excavated in the previous season. Her next step was to understand the relationship of the western wall to the northern limit of the space, which seemed to be continuing under a shallow wall. We first interpreted this wall to be some sort of a foundation layer for the northern wall of the space, F.8011 however, upon its excavation it became clear that it was simply the mortar for the wall. In fact, the wall continues below, stepped in slightly, and the infill and floors excavated the previous season were simply not excavated enough, giving the wrong impression that the fill and floor of Space 565 continue towards the north. We are now certain that they simply extended another few centimeters to the wall face that was set just a bit further towards the north. Our current interpretation of the space is that the plaster on the wall represents an earlier phase of the space. This may lead us to eventually void space 580.
In the North Shelter, excavations began in B.5, B.131 and B.132. There is not much to report about the North Shelter, only that progress is being made and that at this point. The burials under the northeastern platform in B.131 have proven to be complicated. Arek has removed the building infill in B.132 and began excavating some of the cuts related to the closure of the building. Erica is removing the northern platforms of B.5 and she already has come across a deposit that looks like a burial.
More detailed discussions on specific spaces and buildings are to follow soon.
It is good to be back on site. |
