EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 Fourtn Prenianary Rerort By James Mettaarr A rourtn srasox of excavation at Gatal Hiiytk took place between 18th July and 25th September 1965 under the auspices of the British Institute of Archacology at Ankara with Profesor O. R. Gurney as director administratively responsible to the Turkish Authorities. ‘The excavation staff were Mr. and Mrs, James Mellaart, Miss Pamela Pratt and Miss Priscilla Berridge as conservators, Miss Raymonde Enderlé Ludoviei (artist), Mr. and Mrs. N. Alcock (surveyor), Mr. Ian Todd, Mile Anne Timonier and Mr. J. Jurriaanse as field assistants, Bayan Nemika Altan and Bay Mehmet Turgut, both from the Ankara Archaeological Museum, were our official Turkish Representatives. ‘The excavation was sponsored by the British Academy, the Universities of Edinburgh and London, The Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, the Wennet-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Bollingen Foundation, both in New York, the Australian Institute of Archacology, the British Institute of Archacology at Ankara and the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, BP Aegean Ltd. in Istanbul once again supported the expedition with survey equipment and transport. The British Academy also provided a grant for a trained Conservator, Miss Anne Searight, to spend a year at the Ankara Museum on the conservation of the Catal Huyak wall-paintings, thus continuing the programme of conservation started by Mr. Henry Hodges, Miss Pamela Pratt, Miss T. Martin, Miss Viola Pemberton- Pigott and Miss Margaret White during 1964 and part of 1965. Mlle Denise Ferembach of the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine in Paris and Dr. Lawrence ‘Angel of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington visited the excavations prior to taking up the study of the anthropological remains from Gatal Hyuk in 1966, Other welcome visitors to the dig included H.E. The British Ambassador and Lady Allen, Mr, and Mrs. Desmond Pemberton-Pigott, Dr. Jacques Bordaz, Professor Machteld J. Mellink, the Director General of Antiquities, Bay Mehmet Onder, the Directors of the Konya and Ankara Museums, the Jandarma Alay Komutani of Konya and Miss Ellen Kohler. ‘As in previous years, we employed veterans from the Beycesultan excavations as well as local men to a number of about thirty-five, and though most of them performed their tasks with the customary zeal and skill, the foreman and some of the trained workmen engaged in intrigues directed against us and our lady representative. After two months four men were recognized by Nemika Altan as clandestine dealers in antiques ; and faced by the threat of imminent exposure, the ringleaders persuaded the remaining Beycesultan men to desert and leave the dig, Fortunately this happened towards the very end of the excavation and we were able to carry on with a skeleton force of six local men from the villages of Kiigakkéy and Karkin, The episode is only mentioned here as a warning to other excavators. In spite of these difficulties, very satisfactory results were obtained during this season, even if the primary goal of the expedition, a deep sounding into the earliest levels of the mound, had to be abandoned for lack of manpower ten days before the end of the campaign. Onyeerives oF THE 1965 CAMPAIGN Afier the unwelcome interruption of our work in 1964 we were naturally anxious to continue the explorations so auspiciously started in the first three seasons166 ANATOLIAN STUDIES of 1961-3. In particular we intended to round off the excavation of the Shrine quarter, explore, where possible, the lower levels of the mound and investigate the south-western quarter where surface indications promised the presence of smaller and perhaps different buildings, which it was hoped, might reveal workshops, There were other considerations also; our zoologist, Dr. Dexter Perkins Jr., needed more animal bones, such as could only be obtained from courtyard deposits, and in view of a study of the skeletal material to be undertaken during 1966 by Mlle Denise Ferembach and Dr. Lawrence Angel it was necessary to get as wide a range as possible of well-preserved burials from all levels, especially the earlier, which so far had failed to yield complete remains. And finally, the study of the results of the first three seasons to be published in 1966 in book form by Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, showed how little had been learned about the upper levels and in particular Level V, which alone had produced no single shrine, Moreover wall-paintings with numerous human figures seemed to be a feature of Levels IV and III, with no earlier antecedents. ‘THE SOUNDING INTO THE LOWER LEVELS Two successive winters had turned our original small sounding of 1953 into a stagnant pool surrounded by leaning walls and luxuriant vegetation. It was impos- sible to enlarge this sounding and for reasons of both health and safety this breeding ground of mosquitoes had to be filled in. As there was at least a fifteen fect (5 m.) rise of building-level between the edge of the settlement and the centre it was decided to make the new sounding as far into the mound as was possible within the excavated area, Only in this way would it be possible to reach the maximum number of building-levels before groundwater made excavation difficult, if not impossible. We therefore chose the upper terrace of buildings, excavated in 1963 and tentatively assigned to Level VIB, as the area most propitious for penetrating into the lower levels. A row of shrines was separated from the main excavated area by a row of houses ' and upon partial removal of these houses the stratigraphy showed that Shrines E.VIB.45, E.VIB.31 and house E,VIB.29 did not belong to Level VIB, but to Level VII. We thus obtained a substantial addition to our Level VET plan without effort and it now appears that Level VI shows two phases of building only in the houses. Those shrines built in Level VIB that were still in use in VIA were remodelled, but not rebuilt. There is only one exception, Shrine VI.50, the earlier form of which was excavated in 1965 below its VIA successor. Excavations started therefore in the highest part of the upper terrace, below the Leopard Shrine (E.VL44) found in 1963 and the adjacent court (E.VI.42) to the south, as well as below Shrines E.VII.45 and E.VIA.s0 to the north. Everywhere continuity was marked ; below the VI court was another in VII and below cach of the three shrines there were earlier ones with similar decoration, kilim paintings VIA.50 and VIB.50, cut-out plaster figures in VII.45 and VITI.45 and leopards in relief in Vi.g4 and VII.g4. The full recording of these three new shrines occupied us for most of the season and the arca of our sounding had to be shifted further south, beyond the Level VII courtyard (VII.42). Here again, the buildings found in 1963 belonged to Level VII, but as this building-level had lasted over a century there were not less than four layers of butials below the Three-Goddess Shrine (E.VII.g1), all of which had to be cleaned, * See plan Fig. 2 in AS, XIV, 1064.EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 167 photographed, drawn, recorded, conserved and lifted. When this was eventually done we found an earlier shrine below this building, the Red Shrine (E.VIII.31). This also contained important burials and by the end of the season we had reached only one further building-level (IX) underneath. Only over a limited area of four rooms (29, 25, 28, a and b) were we able to push down the sounding through succes- sive levels ending with Level XII at the end of the season, but still 6 ft. (2 m.) above the level of the plain. Previous experience shows that there is at least 20 ft. (7 m.) of deposit to come and possibly considerably more, Little need here be said about these buildings, which were of a subsidiary COURTYARD Fie, 1. Plan of sounding in Level EX. nature to the large neighbouring shrines nos. 31 and 14. In Level VII room 29, decorated with bulls’ heads, was evidently a minor shrine, but in Levels VIII and IX there was here a large room with alcove and bench, different from the normal plan and perhaps serving a different function, probably in connection with Shrines VEL and IX, 31, next door. The Level VIII building had been adorned with wall- paintings in the alcove, but none were found an sidu. Room 95 of Level VI lay over a courtyard of Level WIT, but in VIII there was a small shrine with paintings above the main (east) platform, showing hunting-nets (PL XLIVa). Two red ochee burials were found below the platform, In Level TX the area was part of a courtyard. ‘Two small rooms to the north, nos. 28a and b, showed the same plan in Levels VIT and VIL, and were built over a courtyard of Level X (Fig. 1). In Level X the area of rooms 29, 25 and 28 was one large courtyard168 ANATOLIAN STUDIES and at first it looked as if a change of architecture had taken place in this area. However, when the courtyard was removed, buildings appeared again in Level XI (PL XXXIb) and XII (Pl. XXXIa, XXX, 6) with the same orientation as those of Levels IX-VI, so that the possibility of a break can be discounted, These two building-levels are the carliest yet found on the mound, but already walls of Level XILI were visible before further work was interrupted, Levels XI-XII eel ties en2s @ Fis. 2. Plan of sounding in Level XI. probably belong to the first half of the 7th millennium, for on the basis of radio- carbon dating Level X should be placed around 6500 3.0. + 100.! A new series of carbon samples should date these levels with greater precision. The architecture of Levels XI (Fig. 2) and XII (Fig. 3}, in spite of the same orientation and evident continuity, shows some changes (at least in this limited arca). Instead of double walls, rooms have party walls, sometimes provided with buttresses, Instead of posts of squared timber, we now have round ones set against the thin walls, The arrangement of platforms is less stereotyped, but round hearths AS, XIV, 1964, 138-119,EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 169 and oval ovens show no appreciable change. Two rooms show parts of the floor covered with red-painted lime plaster on a base of pebbles. Walls are made of large bricks as later, and walls and floors are covered with white plaster, which on cecasion was painted. No patterns have yet been recognized, but the state of preservation of these buildings leaves much to be desired. None are burnt and these Tooms were occupied until they became uninhabitable. At this point they were filled in with refuse—layers of animal bones, ashes, rotten matting, etc.—which effected the preservation of the wall-plaster much more adversely than the solid brick and plaster which forms the fill in later building-levels. Fre, 3. Plan of sounding in Level XII. The artifacts found in Levels XII and XI also show no break in the cultural pattern. Pottery and baked clay balls are found, the former in small, the latter in large quantities. The stone industry is essentially similar to that of the following building-levels with obsidian and a little flint and pressure-flaking on large spear- and small arrow-heads. There are no microliths, Among the animal bones from these layers those of cattle outnumber all others, but sheep, goat and dog are present. The bones have been sent to the Archacological Museum in Ankara to be studied by Dr. Dexter Perkins Jr, No carbonized grain was found in these carliest levels, but there was abundant evidence for acorns and Hackberry (Celtis Australis).170 ANATOLIAN STUDIES Porrery One of the more remarkable features of the 1965 sounding was the presence of pottery in all building-levels, from VIB to XII, a total of 300 sherds, This contrasts to the results obtained in 1963 when no pottery at all was found in Levels VIB to VIII, whereas some reappeared in Levels IX and X, below which it was again absent.? One can now definitely state that the Accramic Neolithic period has not yet been reached at Catal Huyitk, Although pottery was used sparingly besides wooden vessels and baskets, its manufacture was known from Level XIT onwards, perhaps ¢, 6700 B.G,, and probably earlier, for even this simple pottery does not look like the beginning of ceramics, We must now definitely consider the possibility that pottery was made in Anatolia since the beginning of the 7th millennium, which is con- siderably carlicr than any pottery elsewhere in the Near East, for even if we use the highest possible radiocarbon dates, we find no pottery in use in Iran (Tepe Guran) before 6500 * or North Syria (Ras Shamra), nor any in South Syria (Tell Ramad) before 6250 3.c.* The higher date for Gatal Huyak pottery also affects the final date of the Beldibi culture on the south coast of Turkey, which may have to be raised to a date nearer 7000 3.¢., in any case to the first half of the 7th millennium. It has generally been assumed that the earliest pottery of Anatolia was a dark bumished ware, the prevailing shape in which is the hole-mouth jar. ‘The new ing shows that this dark and thin grit-tempered burnished ware appeared first in small quantity in Level VIIL, c. 6250 3.c., to become typical of Levels VII, VIB and A (and the later Levels V-1}. The earliest pottery on the other hand, is neither dark burnished, thin nor grit tempered. It is a heavy buff, cream or light grey ware, with grits and straw, but already burnished. Several pots bear splodges of paint, and one or two bear primitive painted ornament, tentative, it must be admitted, and without subsequent development, it would seem. ‘The shapes of this Gream Burnished ware are few and simple (Fig. 4); deep bowls with heavy flat bases are the most common form and the ancestor of the hole-mouth shapes of the Dark Burnished ware. There are a number of simple bowls, shallow basins and one or two oval vessels. There are no lugs, nor handles, and barring a few exceptions, no decoration. The firing is poor and heavy black cores predominate, Mottled surfaces are common. A few places have a red wash, in Level XIL. A polychrome sherd, painted in red and black on a cream slip, was found in the burnt Shrine VIB.70- and remains unique. What is perhaps remarkable is that the people of Catal Huyik did not develop. an carly painted ware, and confined their artistic activity to wall-painting or the XIV, 196g, 61-82. +P, Mortensen verbatim, © HL de Contenson verbatim. Fie, 4. Pottery from Levels X11 and XI. (1) Coarse greyish buff ware. E.XILa9. (2) Straw-faced red-washed ware, burnished. Buff ware with thick black core. E.XIL.29. (3) Straw-faced burnished ware with reddish mottled surface, black core. E.XlL.a9. (4) Cream burnished ware with brown paintalong rim, black interior with straw temper. E.XIT.29. (5) Cream burnished ware, white grits, pale red interior, mottled exterior. E.XIL.29. (6) Coarse buff burnished ware, black paint on exterior of rim, Straw tempered, black core. E.Xl.ag, (3) Coarse burnished buff to brown mottled ware, E. (8) Fine greyish buff burnished ware, coarse interior. (9) Soft grey burnished ware, straw tempered, E.XI (10) Buif burnished ware, straw-faced, White grits, very thick black core. E.XIL.20.EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 Bio, 4. Pottery from Levels XI and XT.172 ANATOLIAN STUDIES painting of statuettes. The pottery seems to have played a purely utilitarian role at Gatal Hayk throughout the neolithic period. Tue Sourn Quarter or THE Mounp (Area F) (Pl. XXXa, 6) Already in 1963 we had noticed the traces of numerous walls interspersed with a few courts upon the southern edge of the mound and it was hoped that excavations in this area might reveal a different sort of building and not just more shrines. In 1965 we extended our trenches southward into this area and revealed the walls of numerous buildings situated beyond a court, 45 ft. wide, which separated this quarter from that of the shrines to the north. Along the eastern edge of the court two further shrines appeared, VIB.70 and VIA-B.80, but the rest of the buildings (VI.71-77) were evidently houses and lacked any of the special decoration such as distinguishes the shrines from ordinary dwellings. ‘These houses had not been destroyed by fire and were swept clean before they had been filled in to make room for houses of Level V (see plan, Fig. 8), but the Level V occupation was more restricted than that of the previous building-levels, a feature also observed elsewhere on the mound. In plan and size the houses of Level VI were similar to the shrines, and house V.75 was larger than most (Pl. XXX6). All these buildings were badly preserved but they added considerably to the city plan, which can now be traced over a distance of goo ft. (100 m.). In the two reconstructions of Level VIB (Fig. 5) and Level VIA (Fig. 6) an attempt is made to give some idea of what this part of the mound looked like ¢. 6000 and 5900 v.c. One notes that the solid row of buildings that form a natural defensive wall is broken at a single point * (rooms 37, 38 and courtyard 39) just where the large court between the Shrine Quarter and the South Quarter abuts on the outer row of buildings, It is suspected that courtyard 39 provided access to the settlement at this point, though the structure can hardly be called a gate. In Level VIA, a similar entry might have been effected through room 22 and its southern annexes, leading into the next court north. ‘The square rooms 22 and 37 may have served as simple towers overlooking the entrances into the settlement, which were not straightforward gates but would have involved the climbing of ladders on to roof level of the surrounding buildings and a subsequent descent into the courts. Needless to say entry was only possible for human beings (and dogs}, other animals must have been kept elsewhere. On the available evidence it is not yet evident how a system of courtyards was arranged; Shrine VI.8o appears to have occupied a central position with courtyards on three if not four sides, separated by buildings built up against the storerooms of the Shrine. (Further excavations are needed to elucidate this problem. Shrine E.VI.6r seems to show a similar arrangement.) It is, however, clear that after the fire in which part of Level VIB perished there is a marked tendency towards more open planning, which might have reduced the risk of fires sweeping through the entire settlement. If this was indeed the idea, the planners were unsuccessful, for whereas the crowded settlement of Levels VII and VIB were not—or only partly—destroyed. by fire, all subsequent building-levels perished in conflagrations. It has now been established that the fires of Level VIB and VIA started in the Shrine Quarter and the fact that the South Quarter was untouched suggests that the wind was blowing from the south at the time that the fires occurred, «AS, XIV, 1964, Figs. 1, 2.174 ANATOLIAN STUDIES Suemnes oF Leven VI ‘Three more Shrines of Level VI were uncovered in 1965: Shrine VIB.50 below Shrine VIA.50, described in the previous report,” Shrine VIB.7o and Shrine VIA-B.80, situated below the Great Hunting Shrine of Level V to be described later. All three contained wall-paintings, and where the first two were burnt, the third was not and had been filled in. Shrine VIB.50 -was the predecessor of Shrine VIA.50, unburnt and better preserved as a structure, but a great pit in its north wall had truncated the wall- paintings of Ailims, and the fire in which Shrine VIA.50 had perished had penetrated far enough below the floor to damage what remained of the paintings in the north- east corner (Pl. XXXIIa), Unlike the later structure no traces of bull’s horns remained in the bench, but these may have been removed when the building was filled in. Iv is impossible to say whether bull's horns had been used or not. The paintings above the two platforms against the north and cast wall consisted of three panels. Panel (a) on the north wall between wooden post and edge of platform was decorated with two superimposed textile patterns in orange and black of similar design. The next panel (6) extended above the north-east comner platform, again in two main phases of decoration (Pls, XXXII[b, XXXIVq), both ddicately painted with net patterns and quartered lozenges. ‘These fine (but fragmentary) paintings belong to a group typical of Level VI and have parallels in the kilim- paintings of Shrines VIB. * and VEA.50.* Yhe third panel (c), which extended over the east wall above the main platform, was less elaborately decorated. ‘The sequence found was as follows: the latest was a plain red pancl, below it a simple pattern of red vertical and slanting lines (Pl. XXXIVS) then a similar pattern with darker lines, and below that a plain orange panel. Shrine V1B.70 (PI. XXX1Ve) was burnt and partly levelled, as a courtyard was laid out over its remains in Level VIA. Only its storeroom (VI.32) remained in use during the later phase of Level VI, and in it were found large deposits of grain. The shrine itself is of standard pattern and carefully built with imitation beams, offset by red grooves. A bucranium or bull-pillar containing the horn cores of wild bull stood on the edge of the central platform in front of a red-painted panel with modelled “ false-door”, a variation on the red-painted niches frequently found in these shrines. In the bench were set a row of five horn hores of Bos Primigenius and the building therefore most closely resembles the somewhat larger and more claborately furnished Shrine VI.61 (old A.VI.1),! which stands at the other end of this great row of shrines of the upper terrace. Several layers of plain red panels were found on the central part of the cast wall, but the lowest two laycrs were decorated with a simple and rather carelesly executed checkerboard pattern surrounding the red-painted false-door. This pattern is reminiscent of rush matting, The kitchen end of the building was less well preserved, but contained the usual features: part of the wooden ladder, carbonized, but still in sitt, domed oven, raised hearth, platform with built-in mortars, raised grinding platform, oval clay bins, etc. Remains of not less than four hole-mouth pots came from this building—an exceptional case— and that ina level where hitherto no pottery had been found, No less remarkable was a single polychrome sherd (PI. XLIX5) decorated in black and red on a creamy- white ground, found on the floor of the shaft with some bone objects. ‘The sherd 7 AS, XIV, 1964, 4 4S Ul sea se Poe 3 kt 4s, xv, 964, Fig. 16. "AS, XIV, 1964, Fig. 4 PI WR, Sth, og so Bes, 45 PL VEEXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 195 Fic. 6. Tentative reconstruction of south-west quarter of mound in Level VIA. belongs to a simple deep bowl or small jar, a common shape, but its decoration is unique among the monochrome pottery of this period. As there is no doubt what- soever about its correct stratigraphical position (Level VIB) we have to envisage the existence of occasional polychrome wares as early as ¢. 6000 8.c. There is, of course, nothing unusual in this, as similar polychrome patterns occur at Gatal Hayak in wall-paintings as early as Level VIII (Pl. XLIXa). ‘This polychrome sherd precedes any other polychrome wares by about a millennium, so the question of its being an import does not really arise. Three obsidian pressure-flaked spear- heads, a carved bone tube, probably a handle, and a fine carved bone head of a vulture (Pl. XLIXc) also came from the floor of this building. Shrine VIA-B.6o lay a little farther back and just south of this building and was suceceded by the Great Hunting Shrine of Level V to be described below, The position of this new shrine is unusual in that it seems to have been fairly central and176 ANATOLIAN STUDIES surrounded by courtyards on two sides in Level VIB, on three in Level VIA. Like the rest of the southern quarter to which it structurally belongs it escaped both fires in Level VI and after its east wall collapsed into a courtyard beyond, it was filled in, but not until its reliefs had been deliberately demolished. The north and west walls of the building were preserved to a height of 1-80 m. and in the north-west corner the walls above the main platform once bore the reliefs of two large leopards, one on cach wall, placed tail to tail, Only where the relief curved to merge with the plaster of the wall, traces of numerous (6-8) superimposed and brilliantly coloured plaster layers survived, enough to trace the animals’ outlines and show that they must have been particularly splendid specimens in their original state. The wooden post in the middle of the north wall had been. replastered many times and painted in various shades of red, but during one early phase it bore a design of a vertical band of V"s in reserve flanked by plain red bands. Posts are not often painted with patterns, but a parallel exists in the Leopard Shrine VI.44, where the patterns were lozenges.!! Of the decoration of the east wall nothing at all survives and the arrangement of the reliefs rather suggests that the western half of the building was the richest in decoration, In the south-west corner there was a deep niche in the wall and on the northern jamb the remains of two superimposed animal heads in plaster. As the rest of the wall had lost all its plaster it is impossible to say whether there had been further reliefs, such as e.g. a goddess figure, which is frequently associated with multiple animal heads in Level VI shrines." This building had evidently been an important shrine, even if litle survived of its former splendour. To the west and south there is evidence for several long narrow storerooms, not yet excavated. Surines or Lever VIE The removal of a series of houses of Levels VIA and VIB on the western edge of the upper terrace, thus linking the row of shrines nos. 31, 29, 44, 45 and courtyard 42 with the previously excavated area on the lower slope, has yielded important stratigraphical results. As a result it has become evident that shrines nos. 31, 29 and 45, excavated in 1963 18 and tentatively assigned to Level VIB, are in fact shrines of Level VII. This is confirmed by the brick sizes, materials and colours, and a much larger area of Level VII plan was therefore obtained without much effort, Only a single new shrine of Level VII was discovered last season, a new Leopard Shrine (VII.44), directly below the Leopard Shrine of Level VI, discovered in 1963.14 ihe new building (PI. is of the same size as the one above, and had a storeroom (not excavated) below VI.47. In contrast to the later shrine above, its east wall was preserved, even though the decp Hellenistic pit which had created such havoc in the buildings above still penetrated through part of the caster platform and had cut into the internal buttresses that formed an alcove along the east wall. This section of the building above should probably be restored in the same way, for one buttress had survived. The alcove in the Level VII shrine was provided with a plastered ledge against the east wall and a domed receptacle at its southern end (PI. XXXVa} resting against the southern buttress. ‘The purpose of the ledge is unknown, but it is too shallow for having served as a bench. Perhaps cult statues, such as were found in the building above, were sct on this ledge. ‘The 4,15, 18, Pls. XIU, XVa, AS, XIV, 1984, 45-47, Figs. 6-8, Pls. HII, IV. +4 AS, XIV, 1964, 42, 45, Pig. 5, FL IL.PLATE XXIX “*pumor8310j Ul ITA [PAY] Jo SSUIPIING “1889 Suryoo] ‘uoKEDs Sot jo pud ve yNAnE, Tere’y Te suOMEAEDKD Jo maTA [EIUPLATE XXX (®) House VI, 75, with storeroom 74, in south quarter of mound. Bench of Level V house in. background,PLATE XXAE ‘Suypunos doop ayy uy suzepreyd pure sojorpsod EM “Gx ‘TX wOOy (4) Pe mnosBauog wy 'Ge “11 twoas pa ‘Ge woos mojaq Heypunoe yo aN (0)PLATE XXXIE “Suypunos S96t jo wonog ve puotog v6 pur Ge “11x m0 (¢) asm Suppooy ‘EDX 12027] ut xo}dmoo Supping (0)PLATE XXXII eae ee (@) Shrine VI B, 50, with fragments of wall-paintings with burnt walls of Shrine VI A, 50, above. (8) Detail of kidim pattern on east wall of Shrine VE B, 50.PLATE XXXIV (@) Detail of lower kilim pattern on east wall of Shrine VI B, 50. (6) Fragment of wall-painting above main platform, Shrine VIB, 50. (© General view from west of burnt Shrine VIB, 70.PLATE XXXV (a) General view of Leopard Shrine (VII, 44) from west, showing Icopards on left, pai io) beige {V2E, af) oe wey showing fperh om Ie, poted soore 4 z . i (6) Detail of an ibex from north. wall of alcove, Shrine VIE, 44.PLATE XXXVE “Trem wom wo predoo] mojaq eye pue sox>qI Jo Sunuted (p) “sppusn yous jo Bunured ypu anooye Jo em seg (9) ea 2x uo predooy mofaq wo PEN pur xeqKJO IMAG () “aoe Pe ‘saxaqt ‘uaned 9321 Yat anooye jo [Tem HON, (°)PLATE XXXVI “PP TTA oursyg ‘(dor woxy SunuTed jo axeyd par) [fem yuoW wosy spredoa| omL. (9)PLATE XXXVUL ‘Transcripts of Leopard reliefs from west wall of Shrine VII, 44+ (a) Third layer ; (¢) fourth layer 5 seats Drawn by Miss Reaymonde Ender LudiPLATE XXXIX 0 ‘Leopards from west wall of Shrine VII, 44. (@) Fourth layer om left, third layer on right leopard. (®) Sixth layer from top with ibexes below.PLATE XL (@) Head of single eopard on east wall of Shrine VII, 44.PLATE XLI (a) East wall of Shrine VEIL, 45, with cut-out plaster figures and narrow storeroom on left. (8) Detail of plaster cut-out figures in Shrine VIII, 455 oe bull on right and destroyed antlered: epthend (h oalePLATE XLII (#) Geometric textile pattern in black from north wall of Shrine VIII, 14.PLATE XLII (#) Hunting net patterns in red and orange from east wall of Shrine VIII, 14.PLATE XLV (@) Northeast corner with paintings of hunting nets in Shrine VIII, 25. (8) Transcript of wallspainting on west wall of anteroom to Shrine VII, 27. Drab Mist Reyonde Enid LadaPLATE XLV (@ General view of Shrine VIET, 27, with leopard relief ‘main room and wall-painting on west ‘wall of anteroom (cl Pl. ie nee LIV 8}. (6) Detail of plaster relief of fighting: leopards on west wall of Shrine VILL, 27.PLATE XLVE (ah General view of Red Shrine (VIII, 31) from east. (®) Red plastered floors and platforms, red painted walls, imitation beam, and two schematised bulls” heads in left corner in Shrine VIII,'3x. Seen from south.PLATE XLVI (2) Painted panel on west wall above north-west corner platform in Shrine VIIE, 31. (#) North wall of Shrine VII, 31, with porthole in shaft above unexcavated doorway.PLATE XLVI (@) Shrine ‘VEIT, 31, with painted platform and orange lime plaster floor with libation hole, (6) Red ochre burial below painted platform of Shrine WIII, 31.PLATE XLIX Pe A Sugg ody peat] sp1MNA Jo TuLATED suog. (2) “ol 1A ouays moy proysiod ponuneg. (9) Pe a ais ITA 2814 uf wopeyd poruged jo apis ase> wo Sugveyed Jo EEE (0)PLATE Le (2) Necklace, (©) Sliced Red Sea Comrie shells et in eye sockets of red ochre burial below Shrine 5 10.PLATE Li (2) View of Shrine F V,, 1, with north and part of east wall with platforms and slots for bull-pillars. (Q) Shrine F V, r. Detail of north-east comer.PLATE Lit @ (0-8) Red Deer stag surrounded by bearded men. Original and transcript. Drawn by Miss Raymon Ender Ludo.PLATE Lilt {a-b) North end of west wall, Shrine F V, x. Original and transeript. Drewm ty Miss Reymonde Ender EnderDrawn by Miss Raymore Endeté Lari,PLATE LV (b) Detail of bearded man and child below bull. Shrine FV, 1.PLATE LVI (a) Detail of wild asses and man in loincloth. North wall, Shrine F V, 1.PLATE LvHI q Je YON -3F punore saundy pure 19q Jo 1HMICPLATE LIX {(@) Stag and figures at east end of north wall. Shrine FV, 1. —ae TAA ak (8) ‘Transcript of stag on north wall. Draw by Mist Raymonde Enderlé LudiPLATE LX (2) North end of east wall with boar and bear. (8) Detail of bear.PLATE LXI ‘voy “9 apuoy ne a ustee “WOH PEM [TEM IRD Jo UONDIe YeNoS Jo adra9suELE (4) “MROWEP PUT s[eUTTE YUEN ‘]TeM BFF Jo UOREE wywuL Jo IduoTUEAL (9)PLATE LXIT (a) Main scene on east end of south wall. (@) Transcript of east end of south wall. run by Miss Raymonde Enderlé LudovicPLATE EXE (6) (@-4) Details of wild boar, cranes, and onagers on south wall of Shrine FV, 1.EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HOYUK, 1965 7 northern part of the alcove was ornamented with wall-paintings; a stylized tree with flanking horned animals of the goat tribe, probably ibexes below. Covering the entire painting and extending on to the cast wall were numerous oval spots, often paired, that evidently represent the tracks of the animals (Pls. XXXVIa, 6, XXXVé). On the west wall of the same building there are two superimposed paintings of the same sort, placed below the right-hand leopard. The upper one again shows ibexes and tracks of the animal (PI, XXXVIc, d), the lower a tree with several ibexes, but no tracks. This is the first time that ibexes appear in the wall-paintings of Gatal Hyuk, but there are two other rock-paintings in southern Anatolia, where they occur ; the cave of Kurtin Ini, near Suberde,'* south of Seydigehir, some fifty miles west of Gatal Hytik, and the rockshelter of Beldibi, south-west of Antalya on the south coast.!* The date of these rock-paintings is unknown, and whereas they could of course be earlier in date, it is not impossible that they are more or less contemporary with those of Gatal Hiytk VII, which is dated by G-14, to c. 6200 8.c. Besides the paintings of ibexes, the more startling decoration of this building consisted of reliefs of leopards with heads in high relief, snarling at the beholder (PI. XLa). ‘The relief of the heads is far more pronounced than in the buildings of Level VI. ‘Three leopards are shown, a single one on the east wall south of the alcove (Pl. XXXVITa), and a pair, face to face on the main panel of the north wall (and directly below those of Shrine VI.44, the burials of which damaged the heads of the leopards in the building below) (Pls. XXXVIIs, XXXVIL, XXXIX, XLa). These leopards were frequently repainted; not less than seven layers of paint were recorded on the pair, whereas those on the single leopard were less numerous and diverse, and less well preserved. In fact many paintings were damaged or worn before new paintings were undertaken. The leopard pair, on the other hand, was better preserved and seven successive layers of paint separated by plain white plaster could be recorded, many of which were successfully lifted and removed to the Ankara Archaeological Museum for preservation, In the uppermost layer the leopards were covered with a geometric pattern of rectangles, each containing a quatrefoil in rescrve (Pl. XLb) and the second layer from the top, which was very poorly preserved, showed the same pattern. The third layer of leopards was ornamented with rosettes containing linear crosses, and instead of red claws, these animals had black claws (Pls. XXXVIIIa, XXXIX). The fourth layer of painting combines spots and rosettes with solid filling (Pl. XXXVIIIb, XXXIXa). Below it a fifth layer reverted to the rectangles with quatrefoils in reserve, but rather carelessly drawn. The sixth painted layer introduced lip-patterns and red spots on the paws and head. (Pls. XXXVIIIc, XXXIXB). The lowest layer of all—the seventh—showed plain pink leopards without any designs. In all these leopards the patterns are painted black on cream with additional features in red, as in the leopards of the later VI shrine above. Below the left and probably male leopard there were no figural paintings. In the latest phase there was a white rectangular panel and below it a fine red plain panel. Much further down were two horizontal parallel lines. Below the right, female, leopard two scenes with ibexes were found, the top one corres: ponding roughly to the latest phases of painting on the leopards, whereas the earlier one was deep down and perhaps as carly as the first painted leopards, With the numerous replasterings of these animals it was impossible to establish the exact contemporary relationship of leopards and the paintings below. 48 Man, May-June 1964, no. 98, 1 Anatolia, IV, 1959, PI. 1, . 88, Fig. 1.178 ANATOLIAN STUDIES Little need be said about the rest of the building, the western half of which formed the kitchen quarters with bins, ovens and two cooking pots of dark burnished ware. Against the south wall was another alcove between two internal buttresses, which in this building take the place of the more familiar wooden posts, probably in. order to secure greater structural strength in a building which faced courtyards in three directions, south, west and east. The Level VII courtyard no. 2 was excavated and yielded pottery, animal bones and charcoal for radiocarbon samples to be tested by the University of Pennsylvania C-14 laboratory. SuRINES AND Below Shrine VII.45, decorated with a relief of a goddess and the cut-out plaster figure of a wild boar,'? discovered in 1963, a sounding revealed another shrine of Level VIII, standing nearly 6 ft. in height, but less well preserved. In plan it resembled the building above, but its decoration was confined to cut-out outlines of animals (Pls. XLI¢, 6), a bull with modelled eye and ear on the right, and a possible stag’s head on the left. ‘This head on the left was in bad condition as all the top layers of plaster that might have preserved some naturalistic detail had fallen off and only the coarse plaster underneath remained in sifu. ‘This technique of cutting silhouettes of animals out of the thick plaster levels in shrines is character- istic of Levels IX, VIIT and VII, after which it disappears. The technique is a form of engraving on the walls of caves, as practised during the Upper Palaeolithic. ‘There were some traces of diagonally slanted Hines in red paint on the plaster walls of this shrine, but in spite of much laborious effort, these did not appear to form any coherent pattern. On the south wall, above an claborate fel cupboard, was a small figure of a bull, painted in red, and the remains of a human figure The depth of this building frustrated the attempt to penctrate deeper into the centre of the mound at this point and the other buildings of Level VIII discovered during the 1965 season lay further to the south (Fig. 7). On the lower terrace two further buildings were cleared, VILI.10 and VILL.14, separated by a courtyard filled with rubbish. Building VIII.10 may have been a house, as no traces of wall-paintings or reliefs were found, but the question can only be settled by investigating the building of Level IX beneath, or the burials below the platforms of the building. Its successors, VII. 10 and VE.10 were spectacular shrines,}® and contained « series of important burials, Across the narrow courtyard, the building excavated below Shrine VIL.14, decorated with the unique painting of a town and an erupting volcano,*? certainly should be regarded as another shrine. One of the largest buildings excavated, it repeated the plan of its successor, but was even larger in that it had a storeroom entered from the north-west corner (not excavated). A series of very badly preserved wall-paintings adorned the greater part of the north and east walls. The latest painting on the north wall, preserved only in a fragment near the north-east corner (PI. XLII), shows a typical textile pattern in black which has many analogies with the similar patterns on the painted pottery of Hacilar, Better prescrved, though extremely faded, is the next layer that extended from the wooden post at the end of the platform all along the north wall and up to a second post on the east wall. Bordered by a red honeycomb pattern at its western end, the painting is divided into five pancls by parallel vertical lines. Within each ¥ AS, NIV, 1964, 455 Fig. 6, PL. Hla, &. Fig, AS MTEL, 1903, 70,73, Fis 14,15; Ps, XI, XIV. AS, XIV, 1964, 47,50, Figs.9 and 57, ig. 17, PL Xa, "AS, XIV, 1964, 52, 55, Pls. Vo and Via.EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 Si RMT Fie. 7. Plan of Level VIII.180 ANATOLIAN STUDIES panel there are whirling curvilinear motifs of a type as yet unknown at Gatal Hayak (PL XLIla). On a white ground, the patterns are drawn in a bufl-brown colour outlined in black. Both patterns and edging technique are strongly reminiscent of felt appligué,2® and the identification of felt among the textiles from graves in Level VI adds weight to the suggestion that this material was known to the neolithic people of Gatal Huyak. What the patterns are meant to portray however, must remain enigmatic until more evidence is forthcoming, but a generic relation to the “ fantastic” style of Hacilar painting seems certain, Below the western ond of this painting there was a still earlier layer, again in the same grisaille technique, with two panels only; the second, shown in Pl. XLIIa, appears to represent slings and sling-stones arranged in a decorative pattern, whereas the first left-hand panel is similar to the paintings above, but so faint that it will not reproduce in black and white photography. The cast wall of this fascinating building was ornamented with a damaged and buckled panel representing nets (PI. XLIT4). In the upper net orange brown fishes with black tails are shown within the meshes of the net; in the lower painting the red and orange nets do not show the catch, Hunting nets, presumably made of raw-hide, also form the subject of decoration of two panels above the main platform of the small Shrine VITI.25 (Pl. XL1Va). ‘Two different sorts of nets are shown, one in red with circular and octagonal meshes on the north wall; the other more intricate with irregular lozenge-shaped meshes on the east wall, in dark red and orange with black and grey outlines respectively, on a yellow background. During Level VIT this building had been part of a court- yard and the building had been filled in with rubbish, ashes and animal bones, which did not contribute to perfect conservation. Immediately south of Shrine VIUL.25 lay Shrine VIII.27 (Pl, XLVa) which consisted of a main room and an anteroom. The latter had a wall-painting on its west wall, the transcript of which is shown on PL XLIVé. Within a border, similar to those found in the contemporary paintings of Shrine VIII.14, there are a series of lozenge motifs with dotted apexes. At first sight one is inclined to describe this painting as a textile pattern, but there are a number of similarities to the nets portrayed in other buildings of this period just described, and without further evidence it might be unwise to make a choice. ‘The main room bears the relief of two magnificent heraldic leopards attacking cach other, nearly 6 ft. in length, on the west wall, the earliest leopard reliefs found yet (PL XLVB). Only the heads were painted with red spots in organic paint which turned black, and there arc additional lines around the tails and legs. The plan of the building is unusual, being squeczed in at the junction of the upper and lower terrace, On the upper terrace itself, the close association of rooms 29 and 31 apparent in Levels VI and VII is still more pronounced in Level VII (Fig. 7), where room VIII.29 scems to have served as a mecting-room and is provided with a long bench set against the north wall and several ovens. Facing the bench is a deep alcove that once had wall-paintings with net patterns in bright red and black on an orange or yellow ground. Only fallen fragments have survived and there was no plaster left in situ. East of the alcove a shaft led into the Red Shrine (VIIT.r) directly south of it, Although considerably smaller than the ones that succeeded it, this building (Pl. XIN Ta) was evidently one of the major shrines of Level VIII and differed *6 This idea is confirmed by Mr. Harold Burnham,EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 181 from all found so far in being provided with a red-burnished lime-plaster floor, twice relaid. The arrangement of the platforms shows that it was lit from the east side, where there must have been an open space, as is also surmised for Levels VII and VI. This shrine was of the familiar plan with oven and ladder along the south wall and with wooden posts and platforms as usual, but at a height of about 3 ft. (95 cms.) above the floor a strongly marked horizontal plaster rib ran around the building, and below the rib the walls were painted uniformly red (except above the oven) (PL. XLVIb). The posts on the other hand would have been white, as were the walls above the imitation beam. Only on the east wall was the panel above the beam painted red between the two posts. Below this panel just above floor-level was set a narrow ledge, about 6 in. in height, covered with red lime plaster which covered the entire floor, including platforms and benches (Pl. XLVI6). This lime plaster rested on a layer of fine gravel and was stained a deep red and then burnished; it stopped at the foot of the walls and did not turn up the walls as at Aceramic Hacilar or Jericho. Above the low doorway into the shaft the false beams joined a moulded porthole (Pl. XLVII0), which enabled a person standing in the shaft to look into the room, a feature without parallels so far. Its purpose is unknown but one is reminded of confession chairs or oracular chambers of divination or the eye of an all-seeing deity. Whereas the building did not change its appearance in the last two phases, the original arrangements had been different, with a hearth and small oven set in the south-west corner, where they were later covered by a platform. Along the south side of the building there was no red lime plaster, but a conventional white mud plaster floor, and below this lay a few burials without any funerary gifts, Below the long narrow bench that extended in front of the main north-west platform in the later phases of the building (Pl. XLVIé) a raised platform, about 2 ft. long, 1 ft. wide and about @ in. in height was found, resembling a tombstone or altar table in the centre of the room (Pl. XLVIIIa). Immediately adjacent was a rect- angular panel of orange lime plaster broken by a circular hole that had been replastered in greenish white clay, an arrangement suggestive of a chthonic libation hole of the type that before had been found in Accramic Hacilar [1.1 The east and south sides of the platform had been painted, but in the relaying of the floor the paintings were truncated and those of the south side almost entirely obliterated (PL. XLVIa). The east side showed three panels painted in orange red on a fine cream background between polychrome borders with zigzag lines in red and black (Pl. XLIX@), similar to the painted sherd from Level VIB (Pl. XLIX#). The orange red paint used was made of an organic material and tended to grow darker on exposure, like many of the Level VIII pigments. The patterns of the three panels are extraordinarily like those of the “ fantastic style” of Hacilar painted pots some seven hundred or more years later. The appearance of this style at Catal Huyak at such an carly date shows that the Hacilar painters made use of traditional patterns. Moreover, a close inspection of the pattern left in reserve discloses the answer to the origin of the “ fantastic style", which is derived from naturalistic representation of human figures. Fascinating as these miniature paintings are, they did not form the only form of decoration in the shrine, for in the initial phase the two panels above the north- west corner platform were also painted. On the north wall two schematically rendered bulls’ heads modelled with their horns (PI. XLVIb) are part of the beam HAS, XI, 1961, 71.182 ANATOLIAN STUDIES and painted with geometric motif. The west wall (Pl. XLVIa) bore a pattern with three “ eyes” in a top row, two (or possibly three) bulls’ heads in a middle row and a large double-eyed figure in the bottom right-hand corner, all rendered in reserve ona red-painted wall, outlined in black and grey with orange-buff filling in the cyes. The photograph shows the deplorable state of this painting, which was beyond salvage. “The pretence of eyes is reminiscent of the stone slabs from Hacilar VI #2 which represent schematic renderings of faces, and of the much later cye-idols of Brak, Cappadocia, Troy, Beycesultan, Kara-Hiiyik, the Mediterranean and Western Europe, all expressing the idea of an “ All-sceing Goddess”. ‘The feeling of mystery radiated by this puzzling shrine increased as the building was being dismantled. Long red plastered runnels ran along the edge of the later platforms, which must have served an unknown purpose, Unlike all other shrines no burials were found below the red lime plaster floors, but 2 ft. below the orange platform with the cut-out libation circle was the decayed skeleton of a little girl buried in a basket and partly stained with cinnabar. The skeleton did not lie directly below the circle and could not have been introduced through it, but was placed against the narth side of the painted platform. ‘The little girl was richly adorned with two bracelets, of red beads and black, white and grey limestone beads respectively. She wore two necklaces, one of which had a mother-of-pearl pendant, numerous deer teeth pendants and beads of white, black, blue and green stone. The other consisted of white and black limestone, carnelian and dentalium beads (GHG 669,700). So much jewellery on a small girl is unusual at Gatal Hayuk and it is obvious that she must have been the daughter of some important personage. ‘At a depth of 3 ft. (1 m,) below the painted platform was found an even more intriguing burial (Pl. XLVIII4). It rested in a shallow depression cut into the floor of building IX.3r and was wrapped in fibre, probably the remains of basketry. The body, disarticulated and covered with red ochre, applied in stripes on the skull and around the neck, was found in a vertical sitting position, like a number of other burials in Levels VII and VII. Around the neck were found a necklace of fine small red, black and white beads, twelve perforated deer-tecth pendants, two green beads and one large white limestone bead (GHG 715, Pl. La). A second necklace was very long, consisted of small red (ochre?) beads, and had a mother-of-pearl pendant (GHG 672), and a third consisted of small red, white and black beads. Two bone rings were found with her as well as a fine white-veined blue limestone mace-head which lay north of the body. Provisional inspection showed the body to be that of a young adult woman with a brachycephalic skull, nearly + em. thick, which may give a clue to the cause of death. This is the first case of a woman found buried with such a symbol of authority at Gatal Huyik and it is tempting to regard her as the mother of the child buried near her. Even stranger is the fact that all around the burial, wrapped in the fibres of the basket or fibre wrappings, were a large number of skulls and long bones (but no other bones) of common house mice (Mus Musculus) and a single shrew.** There is no question of these being intrusive, on the contrary they were gathered and buried with the young woman’s bones. The significance of this ritual, one must admit, escapes us. What is however clear is that these two burials took place before the erection of the shrine and the unusual features, the painted platform and the orange panel * AS, XI, 1961, 46, Pl. Vd. * We are most grateful for this ide1 Nat. History. ion to Miss D. Fielding of the British Museum,EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1965 183 with libation hole, mark the position of the graves. This shrine, it would seem, was built in memory of a young woman and her (2) girl child and the strange ritual, the rich gifts and the markers above the graves strongly suggest that we are dealing with members of a privileged class, maybe their chief priestesses and/or members ofa ruling family. Bourtats During the 1965 season at Catal Hityiik at least 80 burials were recorded in building-levels V-X1, nine of which had been treated with red ochre. This percen- tage of one in every nine is higher than ever found before, only twelve being recorded in the three previous seasons. When it is remembered that of these nine red ochre burials, five came from Level VII and the remaining four from Level VIII, one might conclude that red ochre burials become more common in the lower levels of the site. ‘As before, all are those of women, The following list shows the distribution of such burials at Gatal Hiytik for all four seasons: Level No. of red ochre burials Ill r Iv v VIA VIB VIL VU Ix It should be noted that of these twenty-one burials, seventeen. came from shrines, whereas the other four came from destroyed buildings, where it is difficult to say whether they had been shrines or not. It would certainly appear that red ochre burials are usually found in shrines. Of particular interest was the second burial found in Shrine VII.10. The entire head had been coated in red ochre and two large sliced cowries (Pl. Lb) of Red Sea type had dropped out of the eye sockets. ‘The use of cowries to simulate the eyes of the deceased is known from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of Jericho where they are set in plastered and painted heads. Red plastered heads with cowrie eyes have recently also been reported from Level II at Tell Ramad in Syria,** a level that contains the first pozzolanic (marly) ware, the predecessor of proper pottery in Syria, dated to about 6000 B.¢. or a little earlier, hence roughly contemporary with Catal Huyuk VI, which we date to c. 6200-6050 B.c, + 100 years. As in previous seasons, funeral gifts, though never lavish, were common in the graves and consisted mainly of necklaces and bracelets of beads and pendants, A gradual change in materials used is noteworthy in Levels VII to VIII; whereas dentalium is now rare, decr teeth pendants, beads of red and yellow ochre, and perforated pendants of mother-of-pearl are more common than in the later levels, but this change may be deceptive, Beads of copper and lead were again found in Levels VII and VIII and the use of blue and green paint was not rare. A grey paint was attested for the first time in Level V. Burnt burials of Level VI which are likely to yield textiles and wooden vessels were carefully avoided during the 1965 season as the wall-paintings fully occupied our conservationists. Hew He +See note 5.184 ANATOLIAN STUDIES A Howrixe Saris oF Leven V Although the poorly preserved buildings of Level V, excavated in our first two seasons, had yielded a fairly comprehensive plan (Fig. 8) which shows clearly how the settlement on the western slope had shrunk after the disastrous fire of Level VIA, ¢. 5880 B.c., not a single building was standing to a height sufficient to ascertain its original function. Some buildings could have been shrines, others were houses, but in no case was the height of the walls sufficient to come to a definite conclusion and Level V was the only’ building-level between X and II for which we had no definite shrine. Fic. 8. Plan of Level V with new shrine and houses in south-west quarter of mound. The excavations of 1965 have altered this picture, for not only were a series of private houses found on the southern slope, but near them the cutting of a new wheelbarrow passage revealed a magnificent shrine of this period, marked F.V.t on the plan (Fig. 8) and conspicuously placed at the junction of several courtyards as shown in the reconstruction (Fig. 9). Freestanding on three sides, it was constructed above the Southern Leopard Shtine VI.8o described above, on the conventional plan. The main room, about 18 ft, square, had an anteroom at the south-west comer. A service hatch at ground level communicated with the kitchen which lay east of it, and along the west wall were two long and narrow storerooms with corner buttresses, a feature peculiar to Level V. During the first phase of the building not less than twenty-one floor levels were laid down and the platforms were twice renewed before the building received the wall-paintings we found, ‘The inference is that the painting—a single layer only—dates from 20 + x years after the building was built, in rough terms therefore from the middle of the 5gth century B.c, and therefore only half a century earlier than the Hunting Shrine of Level IMI (A.TIL.1) discovered in 1961. The shrine had not been burnt, but filled in to make place for a slightly smaller structure, built in red mud-brick in Level IV, the walls of which had in places, such185 EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965186 ANATOLIAN STUDIES as the north, the south, and part of the east wall truncated the top of the wall- paintings in the earlier building. Because of its proximity to the present denuded surface of the mound the paintings had further suffered from animal holes, roots and siliea concretions. A further disadvantage, whieh is evident in the photographs, is the fading of a number of figures, thinly painted in organic pigments, upon exposure to the sunlight. For this reason a number of sunshades were rigged-up during the uncovering of the wall-paintings, which took six members of the staff nearly a fortnight, working inch by inch with scalpels and dental tools. As in most buildings the paintings had been covered by numerous layers of white plaster, the top surface of which was a greyish-brown (Pl. LVLIa). This shrine was decorated with wall-paintings on all four walls of the main chamber, which is unusual, and the paintings were preserved to a height of 1-35 m. or about 4 ft. Above this was a false beam, modelled in plaster. Only a single layer of paint was found and the paintings evidently all date from the same period. There is evidence to show that mice and other rodents infested the site as much as they do in the present village, Wall-paintings near the base of the wall or in the corners had suffered from their activity and the damage was patched up with a greenish-white plaster (PI. LIVa, below). ‘The decoration of this building was among the most impressive found at Catal Hyak. As in the later Hunting Shrine of Level 111,*® a great bull dominated the scene on the north wall, the traditional position for painted bulls since Level IX. The west wall shows red deer, fallow deer (?) and wild boar, and a frieze of wild asses extends over part of the west and north walls just above floor level. On the eastern end of the north wall is another red deer and a boar below and the scene continues on to the east wall with a further boar and bear followed by a long procession of figures followed by a dog and a wolf. In the south-east corner there is a damaged lion on the east wall, a further boar and pairs of cranes and onagers on the south wall. On this south wall there are also a badly drawn and damaged animal and a number of enigmatic scenes of human figures. Such in short is the main arrangement of the numerous beasts portrayed in this shrine (Fig. 10 and Pl, Ll). In describing the various scenes, we shall start from the antechamber with the west wall and proceed clockwise, ‘The anteroom itself bears no decoration, but anyone entering the shrine would have faced the great bull on the north wall—the centre of the composition, Directly on the left after leaving the antechamber a large stag (Red deer) is shown surrounded by numerous male figures, of which seventeen survive. Fourteen of these are drawn in a very distinctive style, fall of individualism—no two faces are alike—liveliness and humour. All these show pinkish-red men with black hair and beards of various types and they are dressed in black (goat?) skins and leopard- skins, worn together (PL. Lila, 6, length 2-8 m.). None of the figures are armed, for it is not a hunt that is depicted, but the baiting of a stag by a determined body of men that hold on and cling to the animal's tail, tongue, nose, or the magnificent antlers, whereas others come running along to join in the game. ‘Three smaller figures, painted in a different style, appear below and behind the stag and on the right is a large red figure of a naked woman, steatopygous and with pointed breasts. Below her is shown a dog. A wooden post separated this scene from the one on the northern end of the west wall and the greater part of the north wall, ignoring the comer. The entire painting extends over a length of 6-5 m. (¢. 20 fi.), with 2-5 m. * AS, XII, 1962, 62 £, Pl. XVa,EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1965 187 ‘on the west and a further 4 m. on the north wall, up to a further post, two-thirds of the way along the wall. ‘The composition of this huge painting (Pls. LII, LIV) is interesting; along the foot of the wall there is a long frieze of wild asses and human beings painted in sed ochre or haematite, procceding to the right, and only at the far end, near another dog, are there seven figures going towards the left. This frieze seems ‘unconnected with the main scene above, which shows two deer and a wild boar at ‘the one end of the composition and a huge aurochs bull at the other. Rows of human figures proceed towards these animals with the corner forming a division Detween those going left and those going right (Pl. LVa). Above and to the right of the bull there are at least cight human figures drawn in a polychrome style (Pl. LVIé), which greatly differs from the other monochrome figures. Fic. 10. Hunting Shrine, F.V.1, showing position of animals on wall-paintings. ‘Two deer are shown on the west wall; the larger one on the left was outlined in orange paint and originally had its head modelled in relief, probably incorporating areal stag antler (PI. LIII). Head and antler were removed when the building was filled in, The survival of plaster reliefs, common in Levels VI and VII, into Level V confirms previous observations, The second deer carried antlers of a completely different type and it would scem that fallow deer was represented. A figure is shown (in black) standing on his back, a feature paralleled in the hunting scene in A.IL.1 Shrine.2* Below the two stags two men carrying nets attempt to trap a ferocious wild boar, painted in a flat red wash with black hoofs, tusks, outline, bristles and tail. One of the men is painted red, the other (on the left) was pink and has faded, like five other figures in this painting, suggesting that an organic paint was used. ‘Among the twenty-six figures placed between the deer and the back of the bull (not counting the men with nets, or those on the lower frieze), there is one small 3 AS, XII, 1962, Pls. XVIa, XVIa.188) ANATOLIAN STUDIES corpulent female with pointed breasts and six figures of bearded men painted black. Some of these in the top register are shown ben over, as if running at great speed, but lack of space (?) may explain their curious position (Pls, LIIL, LVa). The choice of black as a colour may indicate not a different tribe or race, but a different occupation, such as herdsmen bronzed by the blazing sun, who even now are still described as black (Turkish Kara VN). In contrast to the previous painting, the men are frequently shown armed with bows, clubs and axes. Though perforated mace-heads are fairly common in shrines, it is clear that they were rather costly weapons, the cheap and efficient substitute for which was probably a baked clay ball stuck in a leather bag and fixed at the end of a short stick. Shown frequently on the wall-paintings, it looks superficially like a boomerang or throwing stick, but its use in neolithic Anatolia is not attested and its effect on wild cattle, boar or deer would have been negligible. Though armed, none of the men is shown using his weapons in these scenes, which do not depict a hunt. Many of the figures are naked, whereas others are dressed in a variety of skins with one or more tails (Pl. LVa}. Only the leopard-skin, so common otherwise, is absent and it would appear that the skin of long-tailed animals was used, such as cattle or onager, both of which have bushy tails. Above the bull's tail one figure carries a round object, perhaps a drum, The bull (Pl. LIV) is a splendid specimen, evidently male, with large horns, an enormous tail and cloven hoofs. Its sheer size dwarf the human figures around it, most of w are larger than the monochrome scries. In front of the bull (Pls. LVII6, LVILT) is an extremely lively group of six figures in such agitated action that several have lost their leopard- skins or are in the process of losing them, as in the case of the figure who tries to touch the bull’s outstretched tongue. Another running figure is actually seen carrying his leopard-skin; two other skins are shown without their owners and there is a third between the bull’s horns. One ecstatic figure is jumping on the bull’s back and part of his leopard-skin is shown on the left horn of the bull. Behind the latter figure are more garments, perhaps part of a further figure, but the plaster of the wall was badly preserved at this point. The next man to the left is one of three unusual people, painted in two colours: it is half pink, half black. Beyond the bull’s right horn are two others, one (partly restored) is half red, half pale pink, with an elaborate tailed garment} the other, which is intact, wears a black loin-cloth and a black mantle combined with hose {?)so that he looks half red, half black (Pl. LVIIa). The function or rank of these large figures is hard to determine, perhaps they are leaders of the hunt, priests or other dignitaries, Not the least intriguing problem of these strange men is their relation to the apparently headless two-coloured figures in the later Hunting Shrine of Level III.*7 Evidently they are closely related and represent the same class of people, but why are the later ones headless? Were the heads destroyed intentionally before the paintings were covered with white plaster like the deer’s head in the Level V shrine, the leopards in Shrine VI.8o or the heads, arms and legs of goddess reliefs in the shrines of Level VII? The habit of religious iconoclasm at Gatal Hyak is well attested now,?* but only in the case of represen- tations of deities or their symbols. One might therefore well ask the question of whether these bichrome figures did not represent superhuman beings, be they revered ancestors or deities, rather than chiefs or priests, familiar from everyday life. ‘There remains the frieze along the bottom of the wall, Here seven wild asses (not horses) are shown with a dog on the very right. In the corner, destroyed byEXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 189 neolithic mice, there might have been a further wild ass. Seventeen human figures are shown with these equids, seven on the right between the last ass and the dog, armed with bows, carrying baskets and gesticulating (Pl. LVII0) and at least one male leading an ass or standing above or behind them. Above the second ass from the left there is a lively scene (Pl. LILI) which suggests the courting ofa young woman by a wildly gesticulating male. Behind the bull a group of three figures shows a male in a white loin-cloth marked with an X, a child and another bearded male (Pl. LVIa). Below the bull is found another steatopygous and pregnant woman, with pendant breasts, black-painted armpits and black-soled feet, probably suggesting footwear (Pl. LVIb). The entire scene is monochrome and does not appear to bear any relation to the major paintings immediately above. ‘The third wall-painting starts cast of the post on the north wall and continues around the corner, along the cast wall up to the wooden post above the bench. Te measures 15 ft. (5 m., ie, 1-75 + 5-25 m.) in length (Pl. LI). On the east end of the north wall is another large red stag almost surrounded by men in leopard- skins, nine of which are more or less complete (Pl. LIX). ‘The original number may have been larger as there are fragments of another three leopard-skins on poorly preserved parts of the wall, Two of the nine figures were painted in a faint pink, the others were flesh-coloured when first uncovered, but whereas the former faded the others turned dark brown. The use of organic paint is widespread in this painting and only a few figures behind the wild boar on the north wall, painted in red ochre or haematite like the animals, remained unchanged. Below the stag is a second scene of a wild boar, the ears of which were crushed. in the buckling of the plaster, with six or even nine figures pulling its tail and tongue. ‘The scene continues on to the cast wall where four men approach the boar, one of them holding a net. The animal is red with black hoofs, outline, bristles and tail. An enigmatic figure occurs near the base of the north wall, and of the three red figures, one was painted over the man who attempts to pull the boar’s tail, the only case of overpainting in the entire shrine. On the east wall (Pl. LX) this scene continues with another boar above and a bear below. Whereas the bear is red, the boar is again outlined in black but the pattern of five to six men baiting the animals is the same. One is shown jumping on its back, either holding an axe or with outstretched hands; while another pulls the tail. In each case a second figure approaches from behind, and two or three further men face the animal or have been thrown down. Further along the wall a large number of gaily caparisoned hunters come to the rescue or perform a dance (Pl. LXIa). They are shown in two rows on the upper panel, but on the poorly preserved lower panel only four leopard-skins remain. Only the fifth hunter at the far right is partly preserved. At the end there is a dog and a snarling wolf, Originally all these figures scem to have worn leopard-skins, some with one, others with two and one with four tails. The row of skins preserved ‘on the lower register all have additions of black and red lines, suggesting feathers, and at least five figures wore tails adorned with black crane (?) feathers, sometimes in addition to the conventional leopard-skin. One figure pulls a struggling animal by the horns; a child with a club hastens behind his parent (lower register) and it is difficult to see where the dancers begin and the pursuers of the animals stop. That a dance is being performed round a richly dressed figure is clear; arms wave, leopard-skins swing and one man carries an unidentified object which may have been a musical instrument, such as a set of pipes (?). No women partake in these festivities, as far as can be seen, but it must be admitted that preservation was poor.190 ANATOLIAN STUDIES ‘The fourth panel of wall-painting extended from the post on the cast wall to the ladder on the south wall, and varied from 3-3-5 m. (9-11 ft.) in length. The panel on the east wall was the worst preserved of all, riddled with roots and so faint that without the help of colour photography it could not have been recorded by the camera. A large pale pink feline with black claws is shown surrounded by a group of seven hunters holding hands, while another tickles the beast’s leg (Pl. LXIs). ‘The scene is very fragmentary and the original number of people was evidently larger; of two at least, only the leopard-skins survive. The animal has lost most of its head and part of its back; nevertheless it can probably be identified as lion, rather than leopard (which is always spotted and invariably has a raised tail). The hunters are gaily dressed in feathered leopard-skins, but they are unarmed. Towards the right, three figures move towards a further group of animals on the south wall (Pl. LXII). Again these are only a few of the original number, indicated by further skins and fragments of legs, one of which is apparently shod in leopard hose, in front of another large and ferocious wild boar (Pl. LX[Ila), The red-brown boar has lost part of its back and ears, but like all the others has black hoof, outline of the head and grey tusks. Its legs, however, are differently drawn. Below the boar is a delightful group of two black cranes, a bird no longer seen in the Konya Plain (PI. LXIIJa) and below them a most attractive scene of two brown onagers with black outline along the back, a bushy tail and black-tipped ears. ‘They are shown in perspective, rare in neolithic art and it would be hard to deny that they look like paintings out of a South French cave (Pl. LXILI6). No human figures have survived in association with these naturalistically depicted animals, but near floor level is a separate panel, painted in pale red by a different master, alas much damaged (PI. LXIIs) and faded. The scene is very enigmatic: on the left is a large human figure with out stretched arms and going down on one knee, the hairy (?) head is defaced. In front of the large figure is a smaller one outstretched on the floor and three figures arc seen approaching, of which the middle one carries a basket and the third is shielding his face. Beyond him a young woman is shown in a lascivious posture. All the people in this scene are clearly nude. Interpretation of this difficult scene is neces- sarily subjective; the large figure on the left may be a male deity approached by worshippers shielding their faces in the divine presence and bringing offerings in a basket. The figure on the floor looks like a dead man, however, and one might suggest a scene of consternation or mourning, but this fails to explain the young woman’s attitude. Further along the south wall are two poorly painted and extremely fragmentary scenes, ‘The first is painted above the oven and shows a few male figures whereas the second depicts parts of two coarsely drawn animals, possibly wild asses and fragments of more human figures. This completes the description of the wall-paintings in this important shrine, now dismantled and transported to the Ankara Archacological Museum for re- erection. Whereas one has the impression that the animals {with the exception of the clumsy drawings on the western section of the south wall) were all drawn by one painter, the stylistic differences in the treatment of 100-150 human figures suggest the work of at least five different painters, Besides the inferior artist of the fragments on the south wall, we have the painter of the group on the bottom panel in the south-east corner, the painter who did the bearded men around the stag on the west wall, the painter of the polychrome figures on north and cast walls and the painter of the monochrome figures on west and north walls, Al these worked in distinct styles, easily recognizable, This subject needs further investigation.EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1965 191 A comparison of this Level V shrine with the later one of Level ILI reveals some marked similarities, although the later paintings are by no means a straight copy of the earlier ones, Whereas the bulls are very similar and the dancers and hunters dressed in leopard-skins are found only in these two shrines, the later figures nearly always wear bonnets of leopard-skin and pendants round their necks, features that are rare or absent in the earlier painting. The figures in the Level V shrine are larger, even better drawn than those of the later building and show greater variation, individualism and diversity of costume. In the later shrine the animals are reduced to bull and deer, in the earlier we have bull, deer, boar, bear, wild ass, onager, crane, wolf and dog. ‘The black outlines on red animals, so familiar from Mag- dalenian painting in Western Europe, is still preserved in Level V, but abandoned in Level III. Moreover, women and children also appear in the earlier shrine, whereas in the later building we only have men, The bichrome figures, the man on the stag’s back, the figure between the bull's horns and the man holding an animal are found in both buildings, but there is no parallel in the earlier one for the two grinning human heads #* which watch the end of the deer hunt, or for the naked acrobats.» In both shrines the men are armed, but in no single instance is any animal shot, wounded or killed and it is evident that no actual hunt is being portrayed, Instead, there is plenty of evidence for festivities, dancing and brandishing weapons, baiting and acrobatic feats. What then is the meaning of these scenes in which enormous animals are made fun of by puny human figures? ‘There is one piece of evidence that has not yet been brought into the discussion: the burial habits in these two shrines. It is usual to find burials in houses as well as shrines and whereas women with children are buried below the larger central plat- form, along the east wall, men are buried below the north-east corner platform. This is the rule at Gatal Huyuk, but only these two shrines differ from all others in that no male burials took place in them, nor have we evidence for the burial of children alongside the women (below the large central platform). In both cases the space below the “ male” platform was empty, and one cannot help wondering what happened to the men. The most likely explanation would seem to be that these shrines were built to the memory of hunters who were killed and whose bodies were not recovered—a sort of cenotaph—and the women buried here may have been their widows. Such an explanation would be in keeping with the fantastic feats performed by the hunters on the wall-paintings that decorate these shrines, feats that would be unimaginable in real life. ‘The whole festive atmosphere of these paintings is unrealistic; it is a product of wishful thinking, sympathetic magic, make-belief, but not reality. I no longer believe that these paintings were made to ensure a good hunting scason, as suggested beforc,*" nor do I feel that they represent worship of the animals. Coupled with the evidence of the burials, 1 tentatively suggest that these scenes represent the heroic feats attributed to the dead in this, or even more likely perhaps, the after life. These are, of course, mere suggestions based on the evidence of only two shrines of this nature. Ifwe had five or six such buildings with consistent patterns of burial, one might formulate a theory about their function with greater confidence than is at present possible. That more buildings of this nature exist at the site of Gatal Hityik we need not doubt, even if they are extremely rare, for the accomplishment of these paintings was not achieved overnight and demands a long series of predecessors that may well stretch back to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. + Not yet illustrated, *° AS, XEL, 1962, PL. XIV, 6, c. AS, XIL, 1962, 645 65.