Space Number:  555

Area: GDN  

Within Building Number: 81 

Phasing:
Mellaart Level Range: - III 

Hodder Level: TP.M 

 

Description:
A western annex of building B.81 recorded by James Mellaart as B.III.3 and re-unearthed within a framework of an architectural research aiıming at reassessing the 1960's plans of Levels I-III as well as reinterpreting the spatial organization of the late Neolithic settlement at Çatalhöyük.

Sp.555 covered an area of about 29 m2 and went slightly beyond the northern limit of the main room of B.81. It was delimited by simple walls (F.2874, F.7692, F.7693 & F.8071), one of which constituted also an eastern wall of Sp.440.

In the course of excavation it turned out that Sp.555 actually consisted of two rooms which were separated by a simple division wall (F.8059) and connected through a wide wall opening (Fig. 3). This break in the wall was highlighted with a plastered threshold (F.8057).

The northern space contained a set of four relatively well preserved bins (F.8066) of a different size. These narrow features with a plastered pisé core were situated along the northern wall (F.8071), which stood up to a height of about 1.6 m (Fig.4). The bin’s interiors seemed to be deprived of archaeobotanical material. However, there were various artefacts found within the infill of the bins (22871, 22883 & 22888), namely a worked stone, a cattle femur, two horn cores, a cattle astragal and two mandibles belonging most probably to a cattle and a boar. There was also a cattle cranium found in an upside down position as if it had fallen from an upper part of the wall into one of the bins. This artefact was situated next to relatively large and cuboid architectural debris but was not attached to it.

There was also an ovoid and large form (F.8072) made up of clay that was situated against an eastern wall (F.2874) and adjacent to one of the bins. There were some small fragments of red and white painted plaster observed on its surface. Unfortunately, the very poor state of preservation of this feature precludes us from reconstructing its original form and function. However, a scar on the wall face suggests it could have been much larger.

The southern space within the annex was characterised by a north-east corner platform (F.8060) with a bench. Together with eastern and southern walls (F.2874 & F.7693) this feature was partly damaged by retrieval pits (F.8062 & F.8067) assigned to Sp.420. Next, a hearth (F.8061) in the form of a shallow rimmed structure was found to the south of the platform. There were also various special deposits found directly on the floor (F.8065) of Sp.555 (Fig.5). The most interesting set of artefacts includes: a stone polisher, a stone palette, an aurochs mandible, fragment of an articulated cattle limb, and sheep / goat bones. These artefacts were found lying in a row in close proximity to an elaborated wall opening in the southern wall (F.7693) that connected Sp.555 and Sp.567. This break in the wall with well-rounded and plastered corners was blocked with a bucranium and two horn cores (22835).

Both northern and southern room within Sp.555 had a multi-plastered marl floor (F.8066 & F.8065 respectively). Curiously, no inlaid pebbles were observed as compared to a screed floor within the main room of B.81

The entire interior of Sp.555 was filled with debris of diverse nature (22813 & 22871) comprising mostly crashed building materials and chunks of stratified sediment sealed with a thin ashy deposit (22870). It is very likely that these architectural remains originally made up a ceiling or roof structure that collapsed suddenly. And that would at least partially explain numerous and exceptional artefacts that were found within this heterogeneous room-fill. A mace and a richly decorated arrow rectifier are two of the stone tools especially worth mentioning.

This room-fill and underlying sequence of floors within the northern part of Sp.555 were truncated by a large and oval pit (F.8068) that was only partly excavated. 

Number of Related Diary Entries: 0

Conservation Recorded: No

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