| Entry: | Final day of digging in space 181, we removed the rest of the lowest layer (5329) revealing bright almost white marl over the entire area. Having revealed a larger area it looks like the idea that the whole area has been pitted a la KOPAL is correct. Got our first clay cuboid with proper decoration - dots and lines, yet one more material culture similarity with KOPAL. A little more recording remains but we may manage to start backfilling tomorrow.
It is really good that we have managed to reach natural, if we hadn’t it would be really difficult to justify the six month season. I’m also quite happy that we understand the area as much as is possible given the trench size. However, when all is said and done what we have excavated is the equivalent of an evaluation trench in Britain, it gives you an idea of what is happening but is no substitute for a large scale area excavation. So now we go home, write the reports and hope that the Catalhoyuk equivalent of the County Archaeologist and the Developer give the go ahead for large scale area excavation? My dominant feeling at the moment is satisfaction tinged with regret at the things we still don’t really understand.
Looking at the sections what I see is process of gradual change and accumulation which can’t really be sub-divided into precise phases the way later buildings / middens can. The same seems to be largely true of the material culture which displays no sharp breaks but rather gradual changes and shifts in emphasis. The crucial, and currently largely unanswerable, question remains, how long a period is represented and what date are our earliest deposits. Hopefully the C14 dates will come through relatively quickly
Given the pitting and our location I am increasingly sure that we have not located the very earliest phases of the settlement. These presumably lie under the centre of the mound and given the apparently widespread nature of the marl/alluvium pitting they are unlikely to have left surviving deposits elsewhere. Perhaps the residual flint / obsidian that Stringy identified will give us an idea. But if the site is an island in a marshy area rich in natural resources perhaps there is no true beginning simply a gradual process whereby periodic visits by hunter gatherer groups become more frequent and more long term?Entered By: Craig Cessford |
