| Entry: | Today is a lucky day. The unit 30880 had some new finds. I continued to dig down. Some small bones, pottery shards and a piece of obsidian were discovered. Also a lot of wood charcoals! Interestingly, underneath the collapsed brown bricks, there was located a gray plaster layer. This layer is very thin, probably with some white calcium sediments. The low thickness made my excavation a little more difficult. At the beginning, I did not notice the gray layer, because the black layer underneath was first visible. Arec reminded me that there is a gray layer above. The gray layer is probably an activity surface. So it is an amazing find. The rectangular structure as a whole is possible a bin used for storage because on the north and south part located a wall separately. But further accurate interpretation could be made after archaeological science experts’ results.
Today at the trowel, I considered an interesting question. What different feelings does Catalhoyuk give to Turkish excavators and to excavators from other countries? In other words, what different meanings does Catalhoyuk give to people from different countries, both archaeologists and the public? I wonder if Turkish excavators working on the site may have different feelings from international archaeologists like me. Probably, they may have some national pride or something like that only belongs to the native people. Furthermore, I am also curious what Catalhoyuk means to people living in the communities nearby. Are they interested in the ancient history? Do they treat ancient people discovered in Catalhoyuk as their ancestors? Or they just concern the economic interests that the site could bring them? I have no answer to all these questions. These questions are just academic thinking, without any prejudice or bias.
For me, a Chinese archaeological participant, I always have two kinds of feelings. The first one is that I would always unconsciously compare the finds with the sites discovered in my own country. I wish a site conserved so well and comprise so much information could be discovered in my homeland. And also the finds could give me some insights about the structure, building materials and stuff of houses in Neolithic China. On the other hand, a cosmopolitan idea is also in my mind. Catalhoyuk not only provides a lot of academic assets for archaeologists all over the world, but also, as a UNESCO heritage, it belongs to the whole world. Frankly speaking, the first feeling is dominant although I am not a nationalist. After all, I am not a Turkish, I am a foreigner here. It could be said that Turkish people must have some different emotions distinguished from me. So in sum, for me, the academic value (from both findings and theoretical level) is more important than others. |
