EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 Seconp Preniwary Rerort By James MecLaart ‘Tur Excavations AT Gatal Hityiik, the neolithic city mound in the Konya Plain, which were begun in 1961 * were continued during the summer of 1962. The second season of excavation began on 7th June and lasted until 14th August, sixty working days, with a Jabour force which never exceeded thirty-five men, mostly trained under our foreman, Veli Karaaslan, at Beycesultan and Hacilar. Once again our trusted ustas included Rifat Celimli, Mustafa Duman and Bekir Kalayci. Survey equipment and transport for the expedition were generously provided by Turkse Shell, Ankara, ‘The 1962 season was financed by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropo- logical Research, New York, a bequest from the late Mr. Francis Neilson, the Australian Institute of Archaeology and its President, Mr. W. J. Beasley, ‘The British Academy, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. In addition the Director had a personal fellowship from the Bollingen Foundation, New York. Once again we are most indebted to the Turkish Department of Antiquities and its Director, Bay Riistem Duyuran; to the Vali of Konya, Bay Rebii Karatekin; the Kaymakam of Gumra, Bay Adnan Kizldagh; to Bay Mehmet Onder, Director of the Konya Museums; to the Director and members of the Sulu Ziraat Istasyonu’ at Gumra and to the numerous other local dignitaries for their help and assistance, hospitality and interest, The expedition staff consisted of Mrs. Mellaart, photographer ; Mrs. Grace Huxtable, artist ; Miss Fiona Greig, conservator ; Dr. Hans Helback, palaeoethno- botanist from the National Museum, Copenhagen, who spent five months in the Konya Plain, both before and during the dig; Mr. N. Alcock as surveyor ; ‘Miss Birsen Gdloglu from Istanbul, Mr. Tan Todd from Birmingham and Mr. John Farrar from Canterbury Universities as assistants and Bay Behcet Erdal as representative of the Department of Antiquities. At home in Britain, Miss Anne Louise Stockdale and Mrs, Huxtable have now finished the final copies of the wall-paintings from the first two seasons’ work at Catal Hayak. The plant remains are being studied by Dr. H. Helback ; the animal bones by Dr, Dexter Perkins, Jr. No C 1g dates are yet available for Catal Huyak. We are further indebted to Dr. S, J. Rees-Jones of the Courtauld Institute, London, for identification of the paints of our wall-paintings; to Dr. G. F. Claringbull, Keeper of the Department of Mineralogy, British Museum, for the identification of certain stones and to Dr. I. C. J. Galbraith of the Bird Section of the Department of Zoology of the British Museum for the identification of a bird skull. Wood samples have been. identified by Professor A. Berkel of Istanbul ‘University (Forestry Department), through the courtesy of Professor Asaf Irmak. » Sce First Preliminary Report, in. AS, XII, 1962, pp. 41-65,4 ANATOLIAN STUDIES To all these scholars and to many others not here mentioned by name we are extremely grateful for their help and co-operation. ‘After the conclusion of the excavations, the first autumn rains revealed further wall-paintings (PI. XVIIL6), and after prompt notification by Messrs. Jean Perrot and Mark Glazer, my wife and I were able to clean and record them in early October. Susmany oF Resurts oF THE 1962 CAMPAIGN The second season of excavations at Catal Hyak fully confirmed our impres- sion of the previous year that this site is of exceptional importance. Apart from the discovery of further wall-paintings and reliefs in plaster, rich sculpture in stone and clay, all providing an as yet unparalleled wealth of evidence for Early Neo- lithic religion, we now have such. surprisingly advanced technological features as the use of copper, obsidian mirrors and the earliest textiles on record, Moreover there is now evidence to illustrate the transition from a non-pottery-using culture to one in which pottery prevails and at the other end of the sequence there are numerous links with the Late Neolithic culture of Hacilar IX-VI (c. 6000-5400 B.C.). In the absence of radiocarbon dates the Gatal Hyuk culture may be dated in the seventh millennium B.c. and typologically it certainly appears to precede the Late Neolithic of Hacilar. Excavations during 1962 kept on the whole to the two main areas dug in the previous year: area A on top of the mound and area E on the west slope. The upper arca was enlarged a little towards the north and two superimposed shrines belonging to building-levels II and III were discovered. Part of the arca was eventually taken down to building-level VI, which here on top of the mound has a floor level some 10 m. above the level of the plain. In the lower area (E) a large complex of rooms of Level VI was excavated completely. This lies on the slope of the mound gradually rising north and castwards to a level of about 10 m. above the level of the plain. From this then it is evident that a mound with a height of about 35 feet or more (the depth of deposit below plain-level is still unknown) lies below the heavily burnt building-tevel VI which we are inclined to date to ¢. 6500 B.c, In other words, two-thirds of the height of the mound remains to be investigated. Apart {rom these two main areas a small sounding was made below the large building found in Level VIL in 1961 and just to the west of it. A large building of Level VIII was cleared and some walls of building-levels IX and X (the latter with a wall-painting) were found, but no pottery was encountered below Level VIIL. As the size of the area was too small for these results to be conclusive, it is hoped that in 1963 the problem of the first appearance of pottery can be solved by digging on a wider scale. Pottery is so scarce even in Level VI that it would ‘have been possible to dig a 5-metre wide trench through the E complex without finding a single sherd ! Such negative evidence based on narrow trenches could ‘easily lead to false interpretations. From the evidence so far obtained it appears that after building-level V the Jower part of the west slope of the mound was not covered by any buildings (at Jeast not in the areas excavated). The settlement seems to have receded during levels 1V, ILI, IL towards the top of the mound and we may perhaps suggest that the great “skirt” on the east side of the mound dates from this later period. This might find some support in the surface finds from this area (supplemented by finds from the canal dredging) which yield plentiful pottery and obsidian tools of relatively late (ie. post-Level V) date. Confirmation of this theory can of course only come from excavations,EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 45 Excavations mv rue Uren Anza (A) A Shrine of Building-level II (Fig. 1) While extending the A area northward we came upon a shrine of building- level II, immediately north of room A III, 7 (sce last year’s plan, AS, XII, 1962, Fig. 3). Because of its proximity to the surface of the mound, this building was badly preserved, but its plan and contents had survived intact. In the isometric drawing (Fig. 1) all its main features are shown. A rectangular main room, measuring 5-10 by 4-50 m., provided with the customary two platforms and raised bench along the east wall (cut away), is entered through a low doorway at the south-west corner. Along the south side of the room, two ovens are partly built into the south wall and directly east of it a deep diagonal impression marks the Fic. 1. Isometric drawing of the Shrine in Level I (AIK, 1), The dark areas were covered with red plaster. position of a fixed wooden ladder leading to the roof, The opening in the roof also acted as a smoke hole for the ovens and the hearth. The hearth, a fine rectangular structure about 1 m. square, was provided with a raised kerb and with the low bench and platform west of it and had been coated carefully with red painted plaster, renewed not less than three times. On one end of the platform stood a bull pillar", made of brick and incorporating the horn cores of a bull. The narrow doorway led into a shaft, which must have contained a movable wooden ladder. From the same shaft two other similar doorways led (a) into a storeroom containing two plaster bins for grain, along the east side, and (6) into a series of46 ANATOLIAN STUDIES storerooms communicating through similar porthole-like doorways with one another, along the west and part of the north side. The unusual features of the building are, besides the red plastered hearth and floor, two further wooden posts, carefully plastered and painted red and a low panel of wall between them, decorated likewise. ‘This is unusual on the west wall of a building at Gatal Huyuk, though standard on the east wall. The contents of the room confirmed the impression that this was not an ordinary house. Between two coats of red plaster there were remains of grain, which had evidently been burnt on the ceremonial hearth. All round the hearth lay the scattered remains of a group of seven clay figurines ; whereas an eighth and much larger figure was found in the grain-bin of the south storeroom (the nearest to the south wall of the main room). A ninth figure, broken and made of white limestone, was found in the opposite storeroom against the north side of the building. Scattered all over the floor of the main room as well as in the storerooms along the west side of the building were at least seven small deposits of grain, and legumes, giving the impression of individual offerings. Four “ stamp-seals” of baked clay with incised designs and about a dozen pottery vessels together with much obsidian, some chert and flint and several hundred palettes, pounders, querns and polishers (mainly from the north store) completed the inventory. The building had been destroyed by fire, like all the surrounding houses. No burials were found below the floor. ‘At the moment this is the latest building at Gatal Hayuk that may be con- sidered as a shrine. It lacks, however, the wall-paintings with which such buildings are frequently decorated in the earlier levels of this site. So far, no trace of any painting, whether geometric or figural, has been found at Catal Haak later than Level III, but the presence of geometric wall-painting at the Early Chalcolithic site of Can Hasan with patterns virtually identical to those of some stamp-seals from Gatal Huyuk II-III * suggests that the tradition continued, if not at Catal, then elsewhere in the Konya Plain. Red painted panels, posts, benches, ctc., however, are still frequent and the red painted hearth and part of the floor continue traditions which go back to the Accramic neolithic period at Hacilar (c. 7000- 6500 8.0.).# Many of the finds found in this building already foreshadow the somewhat Tater Late Neolithic period at Hacilar (c. 6000-1400 8.c.).¢ The clay figurines and the pottery especially look like prototypes for those at Hacilar and in the obsidian industry we may now note a distinct decadence. Flint and chert become a little more common and among the obsidian tools and weapons blades greatly increase in importance. At the same time spear and javelin heads appear to decrease in size and frequency, compared to atrow-heads, and the quality of craftsmanship is no longer so high as in the earlier levels. All this may mean a gradual shift in the economy with hunting Josing its earlier importance. Slingstones also increase in frequency, but maces are as common as before. These are of course weapons which are just as efficient against human enemies. At Late Neolithic Hacilar slingstones and maces are the only armament and there is no evidence for bow and arrow, javelin or spear. Ninety per cent of the chipped-stone industry consists of blades and a tendency towards such a development is already manifest in Gatal Huyik, Level IL. iS. XII, 1962, PL. II (cf. * AS. XI, 19bt, p. 71; Fig. 26. «ASX 1981, p47EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 47 A Second Shrine in Level IIT (A UI, 8) (Fig. 2) Below the shrine (A II, 1) just described we found another belonging to the previous building-level and likewise burnt. After its destruction by fire the entire building was remodelled with panelled walls, thickly coated with white plaster and then filled in with a clean fill of decayed mudbrick containing not a single object. After the fire it had evidently not been used and the care taken over its remodelling previous to its filling-in suggests again that we are not dealing here with a private house, but a shrine, No burials were found below its floor. It is now clear that re. a, lometcic view of the building complex in Area A, Level TIL, showing the First Shine (x), the Second Shrine (0) and the bowe wih ihenew decr ua (De48 ANATOLIAN STUDIES exactly the same procedure was followed after the destruction (by fire) of the first Level III shrine (A IIT, 1) found in 1961, the Level IV shrine (E IV, 1) found in the same year and two shrines of Level VI (EVI, 8 and E VI, 7) to be described below. In the case of the remaining shrines (E VI, 10, 14, 31, and A VI, 1) the rooms were already partly filled with masses of burnt brick of walls fallen and fused in the fire which made clearance with stone tools impracticable. Under those circumstances more debris from other buildings was added and no attempt was made to clear and replaster them, so that they were found intact with their contents. The others had been more or less cleaned aut. The main room, measuring 5-10 by 4:20 m., showed the standard plan with engaged plastered posts, benches, platform, ladder imprint, hearth and oven. A low doorway led into an adjacent room on the south side which probably contained the wooden ladder leading to the roof, The walls of this room still standing about 15 m. in height had been covered with wall-paintings except on the stretch of south wall behind the oven and over the main central platform against the east wall, Unlike most wall-paintings at Gatal Huyik, the ones in this shrine cover the entire wall and are not confined within panels horizontally delimited. Preservation appears to be uneven ; in the north-east corner of the room there is only a single layer of paintings preserved (red triangles) and that one is unfinished. On the southernmost third of the east wall the same unfinished triangles cover an earlicr painting in beige consisting of what for simplicity’s sake may be described as quatrefoils and barbed zigzag lines (PI. IIIa). On the south half of the west wall there are, however, four phases of painting : the first with quatrefoils in red outlined in pink and associated with “‘crenellations”; a second of two vertical rows of stylised quatrefoils in bright red, outlined in pink ; a third of unfinished triangles and a fourth of deep red dots and V's, which continue on the western section of the south wall (PI. IId). In the north-west corner a bold Ailim pattern (Pl. IVa) in deep red, grey and white covers the entire north half of the west wall and rounding the corner continues over the north wall, where it covers beige and pale red quatrefoils, zigzags and a labyrinth pattern (Pl. IV)). Here also there are dots and V's but in a more orderly arrangement and in a different colour. The red triangles which cover the other walls show that it had been intended to continue this pattern over the greater part of the room, Being unfinished it gives one a clue as to how the painter proceeded. First he put down the red triangles, leaving space enough for the white ones; then he put in the grey ground in stripes, leaving white lines round the red triangles, and third and finally he repainted the white lines. This final over-painting in whice was clearly to be scen in the most perfect areas. There arc some pleasant irregularities in the design, just as we find them in woven (woollen) kilims to this day, and the way in which the pattern gocs round the corners of the building gives one the feel ofa wall-hanging. The composition of the design leaves little doubt that what we see here is meant to be a neolithic kilim and the probability that kilims already existed at this time, tentatively suggested in the previous report,’ is now considerably strengthened not only by further paintings of them but by the actual discovery of woven woollen fabrics in building-level VI (see below). ‘The painting of the kilim, the third in the scries that decorated the walls of this building, is easy enough to interpret ; the other patterns, on the other hand, defy interpretation. That they had a meaning to these people is obvious ; the way in which a certain motif is repeated in association with others excludes a theory “AS. XI, 1962, p. 9PLATE It (@) Wall-painting from the south end of east wall of Second Shrine in Level III (A TIT, 8), showing two phases of painting. (6) Wallspainting from south end of west wall of Second Shrine in Level III (A III, 8) showing four Pee panty: Bath after copes by Mr. CHa,PLATE IV (a) Wallepainting showing kifim pattern on the north end of west wall of Second Shrine in Level III (A III, 8). (6) Deuail of eatiee paintings below bili pattern on north wall of Second Shrine in Level It (A 1, 8. Both after copies by Mrt. G. Huxtable, : (© Detail of kilim pattern on north wall, above Plate IVb.PLATE V (@) Fragment of wall-painting from north wall of room A TIL, 2 (6) Fragment of wall-painting from post on north wall of room A EV, 1.PLATE VI (2) "The bench with seven horn cores set in a row. In foreground another fallen “ bull-pillar ”. Shrine AVI, 1.PLATE VIL (a) Remains of wooden dish (50 em. long) and imprints of OR RES oswarhon ek ve rane (®) Hand and footprints painted in red on wall of house A VI, 4. Aer copyPLATE Vi nee 9 0M Ma endes oe yet “OTA ¥ 2emcy woay (14844) peoy sq pue seunBy axnurus‘sjoquads yn SunuRed- E94, (4) SAIN y 2en0y wio4 (povorsax) Sunured-ipem a1noWOI (2)PLATE IX (a) First Shrine of Level VI in area E (E VI, 8). Plaster figure of goddess and bull's head. Height of figure, 1-0 m, West wall. () North wall of E VI, 8 shrine. Sunk relief of bull (Iongth 3m.) ; top cut by Level V wall.PLATE X (0) Base wall of E VI, 8 shrine, showing boar jaws of third phase and pane] of hands of second phase (Gee Figs. 10, 11).EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 49 of “ doodling”. Some of the “‘ quatrefoils ” are faintly reminiscent of the figures in the rockshelter of Beldibi * without being identical, but their nearest parallels are possibly to be seen im the “ hands” and “ flowers” of the wall-paintings from House EVI, i? and the crosses, “‘double-axe,” ctc,, from House A VI, 6 (sce below), the meaning of which, unfortunately, escapes us. Such then are the wall-paintings of the second shrine of Level III, and com- pared to the scenes of hunting and bull-worship which decorate the first shrine (see AS, XIE, 1962) they show an altogether different atmosphere, In the first we have scenes of the hunt, animals captured or worshipped—things one can under- stand—whereas in the second we have a kilim and numerous scenes of symbols, unintelligible to us, It might be wrong to think of the first shrine as a © male” shrine and the second as a “female” shrine, for even at such a late date as the classical age of Greece one aspect of the Great Goddess was very much concerned with hunting (Artemis), whereas another (Athena) was patroness of arts and crafts. However, if put in a different way it may well be that in the first shrine only men and in the second only women worshipped, but whether they worshipped the Goddess as “ Mistress of Animals” and patroness of the hunt or as the ‘‘ Great Goddess, mistress of life and death, protectress of women, patroness of the arts,” ete. makes little difference, for at this period there can be no doubt that the supreme deity was the Great Goddess, whatever her name and whatever the aspect under which she was worshipped. This is of course speculation, not scientific fact, but it is the archaeologist’s duty to try to interpret his material as well as he can. Room A HI, 11 Immediately north of the first shrine was a room, the north wall of which at one time had been decorated with a hunting scene of which only a small part had survived, below a geometric pattern in black on white, resembling the kilim in the second shrine, which surrounded an orange-painted niche, The surviving fragment shows (Pl. Va) a hunter pursuing a stag and fawn. Below this group there is shown a dog (?) and the hindquarters of another small animal, The hunter has just released the arrow and the drawing of this figure in full movement—but schematized—is very reminiscent of the Mesolithic rock paintings of East Spain.* The scene itself is of course very like the Red deer hunt from the antechamber of the first shrine, described in AS. XII, 1962. The room in which it was found is also probably part of the same shrine complex, and was whitewashed after the fire prior to filling-in. Further Finds In and Below the First Shrine (A IIL, 1) of Level HT In the previous report we described the scene of the dancers on the east wall of the first shrine and deplored its destruction by classical trenches.* In 1962 we sank a sounding below this building and were fortunate in finding numerous further fragments of this wall-painting which had slipped from the wall into the trench, so that their approximate position in the scene could still be ascertained, Although very fragmentary (and often impossible to preserve) the additional bits and pieces now allowed Miss Anne Louise Stockdale to reconstruct the entire painting, which measured 12 feet (3-65 m.) in length up to the vertical post. Beyond this, another * Anatolia TV, 1959, Pls. Land XV. + AS. XII, 1062, p. 59; Pls, Xb and XIa~b. “HL G, Bandi, Die Steinzeit (Kunst der Welt), Baden-Baden, 1960, ill p. 79. + AS. XII, 1962, ps 6; Pls, XIVE-~T and XVE-~<.5e ANATOLIAN STUDIES and larger stag was recorded last year. It may belong to the same scene, which in that case occupied the entire east wall. Along this wall the lowest horizontal panel had not been decorated except in a deep niche below the large stag in the south-east corner. In it were found the remains of a further painting, badly preserved, which may be restored as a stag’s head. The platforms against the east wall of the building covered a number of secondary burials (whereas none was found in the second shrine or in the Level II shrine), One of the well-preserved skulls had been treated with red ochre and the straight line in which the paint stops on the brow suggests that a skull cap soaked in red ochre was put on the bare skull (Pl. XXVa). Some of the paint still bore a clear impression of cloth. One of the dead had been provided with a necklace of stone and dentalium beads. In Level IV, a building below the first shrine of Level III seems to have been a normal dwelling. On a projection on the north wall (which here takes the place of the carlier plastered wooden post) there remained a small wall-painting (PI. V4), showing two running males besides a not well-preserved animal, probably a bull, which seems to be charging a third (fallen ?) figure at the extreme left. Again here is a scene full of movement and particularly interesting are the exaggerated long heads of the men, The hair of the figure on the right is shown in black. This scene was painted over at a later period to which the limbs near the top and the right of the scene belong. The strange object behind the running man defies interpretation. ‘The lowest panel in the north-east corner had been painted a plain red as in many of the Level VI buildings. Rich secondary burials were found below the platforms of this building, accompanied by an obsidian mirror, and necklaces and armlets of various stones and bone, Beads of blue, turquoise-green and white apatite alternate with amber- coloured or pink striped. fossil coral, whereas others were of red, white, grey limestone and black beads of coal. Below this building we found another of Level V, poorly preserved and without any features or burials, resting directly on the massive remains of a very large shrine of Level VI (A VI, 1) which had been destroyed in a tremendous conflagration. The Level VI Shrine in Area A(A VI, 1) (Bigs. 3, 43 Pl. VI) The shrine consisted of a main room, ¢. 6 m. square and provided with plat- forms against three sides, an unusual arrangement. Along the south wall there was, once again, the mark of the ladder reaching to the roof, an oven or cupboard in the wall and a rectangular hearth in front, The building was entered from a subsidiary room (containing two ovens) and gave access to an L-shaped storcroom, through a door set in a post-and-plaster screen (see Fig. 3). On either side there ‘were raised platforms, and that on the right side upon entering was provided with a low alcove in the wall. Red painted grooves emphasize the panelling of the walls, Cult paraphernalia are massed along the cast wall (Fig. 4). The north-east platform had red-painted walls below the groove and was provided with two “bull pillars", rectangular brick structures incorporating the horn cores and part of the connecting skull-bones of bulls (Pl. Via). In one phase these had been painted red in front ‘with a white band on top and a white circle left in reserve. Another stood on the edge of the platform next to the wooden ladder, but it had fallen over. The well- preserved condition of these “ bull-pillars ” now solves a problem, for both in 1961 and 1962 we had observed the marks of such in nearly all shrines and most houses. ‘The custom of erecting these can be traced from Level If down to Level VIIT and51 EXCAVATIONS AT QATAL HOUYUK, 1962 “revenn 9 ta 6a nese, Pavoreas JOppey Pure MAAIDE AMM “1 “TA, Y AUN Jo PUD wom oWp Jo Super “fou52 ANATOLIAN STUDIES they were not “portable horned altars” as I suggested in the previous report, but fixed in situ as predecessors of the later “ horns of consecration’, From their position in the shrines their sacral nature is beyond doubt; they were not altars and did not serve any domestic purpose. ‘They “ protect” the most intimate part of the building—the bed or divan (for this is what the platforms are) on which the inhabitants slept and under which their ancestors reposed. Their function therefore seems to correspond with che Christian cult symbol of the crucifix, and its purpose was probably to ward off evil spirits, both from the living and the dead. ‘That these neolithic people should have chosen as their symbol of protection the bull, the mosi terrifying and powerfal animal within their ken and at the same time the syinbol of life and male creation im the guise of the son and husband of the Great Gocldess, is only natural. As a protector of the living and the dead the bullkgod ‘was omnipresent, but nowhere is there such a strong suggestion of bull-worship 1s this shrine where a carefully profiled and plastered bench contains the horn cores of six bulls set in a row with « seventh placed in the high projection ac the end below the plastered wooden post against the wall. There is no trace of any wear on this bench—-on which it would be difficult to sit for obvious reasons. The magnificent structure (PI. Vis) frankly defies interpretation. All one can salely sax is that it was not an altar--there are no traces of saerifice in any of ovr nor was any provision made for thein, such as drains or sinks for the collection vf blood.‘ In the reconstruction (Fig. 4) the wall has been restored 4 little above the red-painted groove. In actual fact it survived only up to this point and ic is therefore unknown whether the central part of the wall bore the usual decoration with wall-paintings or animal heads in relief, as seems likely. The building was destroyed by fire and two large roof beams, running cast to west, were found in the debris. The wood has been identified as oak (Quercus sp.) and Juniper (Juniperus sp.). Very few objects were found in this room, mainly obsidian lance and arrow- heads, and the anteroom also was sparsely furnished. Here there were two ovens against the south wall, numerous food remains and two pots. Access to the main room of the shrine and the courtyard outside (west side) must have been through a hole in the roof by means of a movable ladder, for as in every other building at Gatal Hiiyik there were no outside doorways.!? In the L-shaped storeroom of the building a number of interesting finds were made. The floor was covered with matting of marsh grass and on it lay the carbonized semains of two circular baskets (Pl. Via), a wooden meat dish, 0-5 m. long, oval in shape with carved ledge handles at the shorter ends; two polished stone maceheads, one with a thin and swingy wooden handle, 0-63 m. in length, the other with a bone handle ; and u number of obsidian and flint weapons. Then there were three horn cores of catile, spare parts, so to speak, and a very fine painted clay figurine, modelled with a grace that is yet unmatched in Early Neolithic Anatolia (Fig. 29), and a number of the usual polishing stones. Houses and Wall-paintings of Level VI in the Upper Area (A) It is clear that the shrine described above formed part of a complex of rooms and courts, of which only a small portion has yet been excavated. West of the 1 AS. XII, 1962, p. 57. 4 Asin the E.B.2 shrines at Beycesultan, Seton Lloyd and James Metlaart, Beceneltan Vol. I. London, 1962, p. 43. 1 in view of AS, XIT, 1962, p. 46, where doorways arc described, it can now be categorically stated that there were none at Gatal Hayik, Accidental gaps in the walls due to later disturbance led to this erroneous view. P.EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 Fra. 4. Restored drawing of the east end of Shrine A VI, « (ccttored above the red groove). Drawn by Mrs, G, Haste, 5354 ANATOLIAN STUDIES shrine there was a courtyard and north of this we cleared a number of private dwellings, some large, some small, but all more or less conforming to the standard house plan at Gatal Hayuk. Of the four rooms, three had wall-paintings (the fourth had lost its plaster). In house AVI, 4, so small that it was probably inhabited by a single person, impressions of a number of red hands, and fingers and toes and of a child’s foot were found near the doorway (Pl. VIIé). In house AVI, 5, the lowest panel of the wall over the main platform carried an intriguing geometrical pattern in red, badly destroyed but repeating itself so that the entire painting can be restored (Pl, VIIa). Superficially it resembles triangles, house plans and ladders, but its meaning is—as so often—unknown, Hardly less strange is a panel from house A VI, 6 (PL VIII), showing a stylized bull’s head modelled on the bench and painted a deep red, orange and white. To the left of it there are a number of stars and crosses; symbols painted in orange and white. The second object ftom the left might be interpreted as a “double-axe”, but this is far from certain. ‘The cross in the middle is painted in bright orange and purple manganese paint to which a mineral (** glimmerschiefer”) has been added to make it sparkle. Above it to the right a dark red “ crenellation ” links it to one of the “ stars” or rosettes and a number of small red human figures appear here. Best preserved are a fat (and steatopygous ?) female and a man holding a bow. To the right is a small figure like the quatrefoils in the second shrine of Level III and beyond it a female with arms and legs uplifted, in a position of childbirth, which occurs on a monumental scale in the plaster relief in the first shrine the lower area (see p. 6t and Pl. [Xa). Above it is another small group of two figures, one of which holds a bow. These ate, at the moment, the earliest representa- tions of the human figure at Catal Huyak. In the upper register there are re! with points in orange, outlined in white and with reserve designs in the same colour. Certain of these symbols may be compared to those from the Second Shrine in Level III and some of the small figures are reminiscent of Beldibi. paintings were, as usual, hidden below thick coats of white plaster. Excavations 1 tie Lower Area (E), Bempisc-tever. VI (Fig. 5) Compared to the discoveries made in the lower area on the slope of the mound, those described above were of relatively minor importance. During the first season we had stripped a portion of the slope in order to gain a rapid glance at the remains of earlier levels which here reached the surface and we had found extensive building remains of levels IV, V and Vi (sce AS. XII, 1962, Figs. 4-6). The sixth building level showed abundant signs of having been destroyed in a great conflagration and the few buildings excavated were found to be well preserved and rich in finds, making further excavation imperative. During the 1962 season we therefore cleared the whole area, measuring about 40 by 20 m., down to this burnt Level VI and extended where necessary in order to obtain a complete building-unit surrounded, on at least three of its sides, by open courts or courtyards (Fig. 5) and without a single doorway giving access to it from the outside or from the surrounding courts. After two seasons’ work at Catal Hyak, it is now abundantly clear that not a single house was entered directly from a courtyard or the street; on the contrary, the only way in and out was via the roof.!8 Strange as this may seem, there are numerous ethnological parallels for such a state of affairs; numerous Americo-Indian villages practise this systemEXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 55 Fro, 5, Plan of the Level VI building complex in Area E. Open spaces are shown in darker shade, and nearer home we find the same in a number of the more remote villages in Central and Eastern Anatolia and western Iran. Nor is Gatal Hiiyik the only case in Anatolia, for the basement structures at Hacilar I or at Can Hasan in the Konya Plain itself show that this system—which is evidently defensive—continued to be in56 ANATOLIAN STUDIES use right down to the end of the Early Chalcolithic period. The system, impractic- able as it seems to us, had distinct advantages, mainly defensive. There was really no need for a large defensive wall (which for all we know may exist—we have not yet looked for it): all one needed were stretches of wall (or houses with a blank outer wall) between the building complexes. The rooms at the northern end of our block nearest the river may be the beginning of such a link. The chance of an enemy forcing an entry into the city through blocks of houses must have been small and the efficacy of the system is suggested by the fact that throughout the eight building levels so far investigated there are no traces of massacre or pillage. Itis clear then that to enter a block of rooms one had to ascend the flat roofs of the block by a (movable) ladder from a court or courtyard. A good sense of direction would be required, especially at night, to find one’s own dwelling, but one acquired it, no doubt, early in life, Most rooms were provided with two ways of entry, a wooden ladder, fixed in the south wall of the house and opening on to the roof more or less above the hearth (the smoke escaped through the same hole and through the windows which were probably set just below the eaves) or by way ofa movable ladder put in a shaft, which in addition may have served as a light-well and ventilation shaft. The well-preserved plaster near the ladder or in the shaft shows that both were provided with a protection on the roof against inclement weather. In our reconstruction (Fig. 6) we have provided lean-to shelters such as we find to this day in Eastern Anatolia, but the possibility that there was a verandah of wood and wattle and daub, a sort of partial second storey, must be left open. ‘As the building complex was constructed on the slope of a mound (Fig. 7), it rose both towards the east and the north. Each house has its own walls and this becomes understandable for only in this way could adequate lighting be ensured. The rooms rose in tiers and so did the roof (and floors), each rising just cnough over its lower neighbours to allow for windows in the west and south wall. The light so provided would mainly illuminate the cast and north walls of each room and it is here that the working, sitting and sleeping platforms and any form of decoration are placed to take full advantage of the light. ‘The comparatively dark south end of the house {there was of course the opening in the roof above) was given over to the domestic tasks of cooking and baking, The shaft may have provided additional light and by having a second opening, good ventilation could be ensured, The system may seem highly sophisticated, but we are not dealing with simple village communities !_ Towards the southern and eastern end of the block a slightly different arrangement of rooms may be noticed on the plan and this is easily explained by the fact that lighting arrangements required a different orientation. It will be fascinating to find some time that the whole process is reversed on the eastern slope of the mound, where the light comes from the east. So far all the buildings recovered in both areas received their light from the west or the south, which suggests that we have not yet reached the top of the ancient mound. ‘The plan of this building unit—in the absence of communicating doorways ‘one obviously cannot decide whether it is one or numerous buildings—would no doubt be described by some modern architects as “ agglutinative””. This, by the very meaning of the word, means that things were stuck on to each other, in this case rooms. The objection, architecturally speaking, is that there was a lack of planning, in fact a random agglomeration of diverse elements, haphazardly thrown together. This is obviously not the case here for it is obvious from the plan that the building unit of E VI falls into two parts, each built on a different terrace. Although the upper terrace looks somewhat rambling, the very reverse is evidentANATOLIAN STUDIES Et SY CATALHUYUK LEVEL VI isometric viewEXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 59 in the lower terrace, the centre of which is occupied by four shrines (E VI, 8 and 10 in the southern and E VI, 24 and 7 in the northern part). These four shrines form the centre of the block and they are arranged within a cruciform pattern of storerooms (E VI, 17, 11 and g) running north to south and a large room (E VI, 13, 15, 16) running east to west. Many of the lines of walls run straight for more than a single building, suggesting clearly that the entire plan was well laid out (even if less well executed). Here there is no more case of “ agglutination ® than there is in, e.g. the Gretan Palaces. On the contrary, the buildings were planned and it is very clear how they were planned, for outside each of the shrines there is at least one important dwelling, and sometimes more. Each of the four shrines is provided with its store- room, often directly accessible from it, in the same way as the houses are normally provided with a secondary room for the purposes of storage, One shrine (No. 31) and six houses occupy the upper terrace, whereas on the lower ten houses are arranged around four shrines (Nos. 7, 8, 10 and 14). The remaining nineteen rooms are storerooms or kitchens. The entire complex had about forty rooms or chambers in it, but the number is somewhat uncertain because of denudation at the bottom of the west slope. The entire complex was in use for a considerable length of time during which there were alterations after a great fire, especially in the upper terrace, where there is the best evidence for two phases of building. On the lower terrace the houses burnt were repaired and replastered after the fire (e.g. in Houses E VI, 1; 5), but this first fire was much less destructive than the one in which the whole area appears to have perished at the end of Level VI. In any case the five shrines remained in use throughout the period and as a result the layers of wall plaster are unbelievably thick and often about twice as thick as those in the rebuilt houses, where fifty to sixty layers is not abnormal, The plaster in Shrine E VI, 14, was 8 cm. thick with well over a hundred layers (in a building of Level VEIL the plaster is up to 10 cm. thick or as much as half the width of the brick wall !), Better evidence for the longevity of these buildings could hardly be found. In plan and internal arrangement there is no appreciable difference between the shrines (or cult-rooms) and the dwellings. All are built on the same rectangular plan, Platforms and benches divide the room into three parts, the southernmost of which is devoted to cooking, baking, etc., and this also has the ladder (placed in the south-east corner). A platform in the south-west corner is usual next to the hearth, but it is along the cast (and north) side of the room that we find the sitting and sleeping platforms with a raised bench at the south end of the eastern range The centre of the room is lower than the rest and this was covered with rushes on top of which rested mats, Mats are not found on the sleeping platforms and here one would expect kilims and yorgans (quilts), mattresses or felt. There are no provisions for drainage, and sanitation was out of doors. On the whole, these rooms were kept scrupulously clean and all refuse was put outside, strewn in the courtyard or buried in pits. There are a number of other features, both structural and decorative in these buildings that call for comment, These are the vertical wooden posts of squared timber, plastered and painted red and the horizontal panelling of the walls. These are characteristic features of every dwelling or shrine so far found at Catal Hiyiik and with the division of the room into its component functional apartments and ilt-in furniture’’ they give the architecture of Catal Hiyuk an ordered60. ANATOLIAN STUDIES neatness rarely paralleled.** Through subtle variations, however, a balance is struck between barren standardization and uniformity and over-elaboration. One cannot help feeling that already in Level VI one is dealing with an established tradition in architecture, the beginnings of which lay far beyond this period of the mid-seventh millennium B.c. Last year we ventured the idea that posts and horizontal panelling were purely decorative and devised to break the monotony of the plain walls. This view can now be corrected. A comparison of the well-preserved Level VI buildings with the latest ones of Levels II to III shows clearly that the posts served a constructive purpose. In Level VI the walls were but a single brick thick whereas in the later buildings the thickness of the walls increased. In Level IIT actual wooden posts are rare and shallow brick pilasters often take their place and in Level II the wooden posts are frequently replaced by internal buttresses built entirely of brick. In later periods, such as in Early Chalcolithic Hacilar, internal buttresses are a standard feature, but nowhere do they reach such monstrous proportions as in the basements of Can Hasan or Hacilar I.** The development is now evident from wooden post to brick buttress and the vertical posts in Level VI served a con- structive purpose, for it is clear from their position that they carried the roof beams. (sce Fig. 14). Evidently the builders at Gatal Huyik did not trust their thin mud- brick walls to carry the full weight of the heavy flat roof. In a number of cases, buildings of Level VI escaped the last fire and the problem of the horizontal over- hangs in the walls was solved by the discovery of horizontal beam holes or actual burnt remains of beams in them. The strange overhang masked the positions of horizontal beams which with the vertical posts formed a timber framework for or rather within the entire building. I say within, for the timber framework would probably have stood by itself without the mudbrick walls if it did not have to support a heavy mud roof. A section through the walls gives one the impression that the mudbrick walls were an afterthought, built up against the framework and only insecurely integrated. Anyone should have realized that the upper part of a mudbrick wall balanced on a beam with an overhang of up to 20 cm. (sce Fig. 14) presented an insecure method of building, to say the least. It is not surprising to find that this part has nearly always collapsed and was preserved by chance only where it was bonded into the corners. The fact that this was not realized by the builders may suggest that they were still experimenting with the problem of how to adapt the sensible timber framework of a wooden house to the novelty of mudbrick walls. In the later levels the over- hangs are greatly reduced and no beams are used : the old structural feature had become a decorative one. Al this then suggests—in my opinion—that by Level VI the people of Gatal Hiiyiik were still conscious of a traditional type of house which consisted of a strong wooden framework with walls not of mudbrick but of wood or mats. Such a type is not one which onc easily associates with people dwelling in the middle of an alluvial plain; on the contrary, such buildings probably developed in the hills, where timber was more easily available. This is not the only potential pointer towards a different previous habitat ; the reed buildings to be described below (p. 98), the familiarity with the carving of wooden vessels and stone statues, the interest displayed in stones and metal and in limestone concretions from caves in the Taurus and last but not least the 44 Not decoration as was suggested in AS. XIT, 1962, p. 48 f 18 AS. X, 1960, Fig. 4, or AS. XII, 1962, p. 30, Fig. 4 and PL Ta.EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYOK, 1962 6r unlikelihood that agriculture had its beginnings in an area like this, suggest, perhaps, the existence of still earlier settlements than those found in the plain. With two- thirds of the mound to be excavated a possible date for such a hypothetical immigration into the plain cannot be offered yet, and it would not be surprising if it were extremely remote. The principles of decoration are as less expected as those of the construction in Level VI. Structural elements, like the vertical posts, the grooves and niches and sometimes the kerb of the platforms are often painted red (or orange). The lowest panels over the platform in the north-east corner are nearly always painted a plain red and this red panelling frequently continues over the main central platform against the east wall, and rarely beyond (e.g. Fig. 10). plan of the building is reversed as in E VI, 3, 4, 15, 28, Painting on the south wall is found only in E VI, I, which is unusual in many respects and has another painting on the north wall in addition to those on its east wall. No single building in Level VI has painting on the west wall or in the shaft. The south and the west walls are the two dark ones, but this does not explain why the lowermost panel is nearly always the traditional and favoured position for wall paintings, except in some of the shrines (E VI, 8, 10) or in A VI, 6, where patterns continue on to the lower part of the central panel. One would naturally expect the paintings to have been placed where they would be easiest to sec, ie. on the high central panels. Their favoured position just above the platforms along the east wall somchow suggests that they had a magical and protective function both for the living (e.g. while asleep) and the dead who lay buried (and were probably thought to sleep) below. ‘The red colour so prevalent in the wall-paintings surely owed its extensive use not only to its ready availability, but even more so to its magic virtue of symbolizing blood and therefore the life force (cf. the red ochre burials at Catal Huyuk and elsewhere), Just as the smearing of red ochre on the bones of the dead was a ritual Tena dead, so the red panels were probably meant to keep the living (and the dead) alive during their sleep. The contrast between the position of these paintings and that of the monu- mental plaster relief in the shrines is very marked. The latter occupy the most prominent places for they are meant to be seen by the faithful. The First Shrine (E VI, 8) (Figs. 8-13 and Pls. IX-X1) The First Shrine of area E in Level VI consisted of a main room, measuring 5°80 by 4:50 m., an anteroom and a shaft at the south end. It lay below a large building (EV, 6) which appears to have been a normal house. After the shrine had been destroyed by fire, the debris was removed ; all the walls replastered ; ‘a new wall built across the destroyed south wall (out of broken bricks, burnt bricks of Level VI and new ones) blocking the entrance from the anteroom, and the whole structure filled in with clean material, A group of objects that lay on the floor of the doorway were carefully left in situ, The procedure here followed is typical of the way in which the people of Gatal Huyuk dealt with their sacred places. ‘The main room of the shrine had all the usual features and in addition a row of four large “ bull-pillars” of which only the scars remain (PI. Xa) (with one exception). On the west wall part of the horn cores and a bull's head lay crushed ‘on the floor, evidently fallen from the wall, Beyond it to the north the bold figure of a goddess with arms and legs uplifted surmounted an enormous (but battered) head of a bull, modelled in clay, and rising out of the floor (Fig. 8; Pl. IXa). TheANATOLIAN STUDIES63 EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 “aEMHE 9 tunn woe “seed dre] PUR UNE) A Ur (g “1A a) URNS YE BMP jo [AN BREE PUY YOU jo UOHRIOIEEY “6 ONTANATOLIAN STUDIES§5 EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 agro 9 aye My wane ‘ameyd puoose at uF (g TA a) aug YEH ay Jo [eM axe9 pu PION axp Jo UONEIOIFEY “11 “OtANATOLIAN STUDIES 66 “ayavengy 9 tape 4 wee -aseud asry suy Ut (@ “TA. a) 2utaYS Ie stp Jo [IE IsER PUT IPAOU axp Jo UONEINNSTY “BI “OL,EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 67 figure of the goddess, nearly 4 feet in height, lacks the head which from the marks left was made separately and inserted. The body is highly schematized and only the stomach with navel is modelled.!* There is no indication of sex, but the upturned legs and the pulling hands are a stylization of a woman in labour, and in this case the Goddess has just given birth to the bull below. At one phase this figure had been painted a saffron yellow.”” On the north wall a great bull (or cow, no sex is shown), 8 feet in length, was modelled in reserve on the plastered wall (Pl. IXb). Its upper part was destroyed by the wall of Level V built on top, but the outline of its head and neck, front legs, sagging belly, hind legs with cloven hoof and tail are unmistakable, Below it were wavy lines modelled in the plaster, perhaps indicative of water. It is perhaps significant that large-scale representations of bulls (as here and in the A III, 1, shrine) should be placed on the north wall, ie. facing the Taurus Mountains,?® The only other scene with a running bull in house AIV, 1 (directly below the ALI, 1, shrine) occurs in the same position. At one time this bull had been painted red, and like the rest of the reliefs it had been frequently replastered. The south wall bore no other features of decoration than the red-painted groove which runs around the room (Fig. 8) and is only interrupted by the figures of the goddess and the large bull. On the east wall, facing the goddess, the central panel was highly decorated, whereas only two small clay bulls” heads and one ram’s head were found on the side panels. The latter had fallen on the floor and were badly shattered, but they had not been removed. Three bulls’ heads with knobs between them formed the upper register and below them two slightly projecting “ beams ” bore two series of modelled woman's breasts, nine in the upper row and four in the lower (Fig. 9). ‘All bulls’ heads had fallen and only part of one (Fig. 13) was found in situ below, the others must have been removed when the shrine was eventually cleared. The replastering of the head (like that of the bull pillars) after the fire shows that the heads were in situ even after the fire, when the shrine was reconstituted. A reconstitution of the shrine in its last phase (after the fire) is shown in Fig. 9 and Pl. Xa. At this final phase there was no trace of any painting. By removing the 2 cm. thick unburnt plaster from the walls we recovered the remains of the shrine as they had been at the time of the great conflagration which destroyed the Level VI settlement. The goddess at this stage was a little slimmer and there may have been an earlier bull’s head below her ; the proportions of the big bull on the north wall improved but the real change was on the central panel of the north wall. The great vertical posts had been painted red and so were the lowermost panels in the north-east comer "9 (Fig. 10). The bulls’ heads were painted, judging by the first coat of paint on the surviving one (Fig. 13: 1), with red muzzles and red schematized hand impressions on the nose and the sides. The same ornament was found on the small ram’s head on the south panel.2? The really spectacular metamorphosis, however, was revealed when on peeling the 4 cf, plaster relief in shrine of Level VII (4S. XII, 1962, Pl. I11b, Fig. 8, pp. ah bite the one in E VI, to, and cf dhe white figures of women in shine Pie eis, 2, 1962, 9°, P art name of Bull mountains” would seem to be hardly a coincidence, but has not been much commented upon. 4* Not incorporated in the drawing which was made before it was found. #° Found on the floor of the building, cf. position in E VI, 14 (Third Shrine).ANATOLIAN STUDIES samen am Mg nese, “1A a) outs 11g 249 HO pes nq 2upt uo suaaHEd parured Jo sousnbor ou, “Er “onyEXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 69 unburnt plaster off the breasts each was found to conceal the lower jaw with tusks and teeth of really enormous wild boar, the upper row set on a red-painted, the lower on a white projecting ‘ beam”, below which was the lowest panel painted a plain red (Fig. 10; Pl. X6). The teeth and tusks of the boar mandibles had not survived the fire; they were split and broken during the heat but that docs not in itself explain the remarkable transformation from boar’s jaw to woman's breast. ‘When removing these mandibles from the wall it became clear that they had been stuck in holes made through some earlier forms of decoration in the form of wall paintings. Two main phases can be distinguished (Figs. 11-12) separated by a phase of plain white lines on a buff ground. On the one surviving bull’s head, on the other hand, at Jeast seven phases of painting are recorded (Fig. 13 : 3, 4, 6-9 and r10-11),? which suggests that the heads were more often painted than the wall behind. In the latest painted phase (Fig. 11) the lowest panel shows seventeen negative adult left (?) hands on a light red background (Pls. Xb and XIa). Above it another panel (only preserved at the south end) (Pls. X10, XIJa) shows a red honeycomb pattern, the cells of which are filled with rosette-patterns, a square, a flower (?), wavy lines and winged insects in white. At the top it is framed by a series of ovals in red, cach containing two hands with four fingers and a circle in the palm, white on the left, pink on the right. At the bottom a similar frame contains fivesfingered pink left hands in a vertical position alternating with four-fingered white hands in a horizontal position with the fingers pointing towards the right (south). These again show a hollow circle in the palm of the hand, The final result is impressive, bur two Af the pink hands in the bottom row cover a part of the red honeycomb and when one looks closely at the insects one finds that the honeycomb is painted over them (Pl. XIIb). It looks then as if the honeycomb is an afterthought and an addition, which might explain its irregularity, which is especially noteworthy at the right (south end). If we take the honeycomb away leaving the white figures, there remains a “ field of flowers and bees or butterflies ” and the addition of a honey- comb involves no intricate thought processes in the mind of the painter. The wingless nbjects hanging from boughs may be chrysalises and if so, the pr-~~-= of metamorphosis evidently already impressed neolithic man, Associated with this painting are probably the two phases of pa’ bull’s head (Fig. 13: and 4) which show a net-pattern perhaps 1 honeycomb. The next three layers of painting (ibid., 6, 8, 9) may « with the interim phase (the white lines referred to above). In the earliest phase recovered the lowest panel was painted a plain punxish red, and the panel above it (Pl. XIb) represented an earlier form, less well executed and more hesitant, of the honeycomb pattern. The bulls’ heads were again painted (Fig. 13 : 10, 11) with a similar pattern. The colours of the main panel are similar although less bright, but more is preserved. The honeycomb is much less regular and again some overpainting is obvious with, as before, the lower row of hands last of all. The two versions are very similar indeed, but in this larger painting the “cells” on the left are closed, those in the centre are opening up with circles and dots and those on the right resemble the slightly later painting (Pl. XIIc). Iris likely and indeed probable that during these earlier phases the shrine had a number of bull-pillars and some may even have been painted. Because of this uncertainty they have been omitted in the reconstructions. ™ ‘There may be even more, but the head had to be preserved at a certain stage,70 ANATOLIAN STUDIES The Second Shrine (E VI, ro) (Fig. 4-15; Pls. XII-XIV) ‘The Second Shrine was separated from the first by two very deep storerooms (EVI, 11 and 9). Apart from the wooden ladder against the south side of the room access was gained by a second entrance set 1-5 m, above the floor at the southern end of the east wall and leading into room E VI, 27. The elevation of this porthole-like entrance would again require the presence of a ladder. ‘This building, which measured 5-75 by 4-35 ™., was found intact and filled with burnt debris. Its north wall and the adjoining parts of both east and west wall were preserved up to roof level, 2°7 m. or g feet (or more) above the level of the lowest portion of the floor or 2-5 m. above the platforms. The roof would appear to have been c. 0-3 m. (x foot) thick, flat and made of layers of mud and reeds laid on small beams as shown in the reconstruction (Fig. 14). In plan it resembled the first shrine, but it had a central post in the middle of the north wall, at the base of which was modelled a large ram's head with two pairs of horns (a freak that sometimes occurs in nature) (Pl. XIIIa). Directly to its right was a plaster box, perhaps used to receive offerings. It was, however, found empty. Not far away, on the edge of the north-east corner platform, the lower panels above which were painted a fine crimson, there stood an clegant bull-pillar with part of the bone of the skull still in situ, The enormous horn cores were found in the debris, broken and almost calcined. A row of holes on the main panel (west) of the north wall suggests that there may have been a textile hanging on the wall, Another row over the lowest panel suggests another. The cast wall showed the familiar partitioning, with red plastered vertical posts, platforms and benches. A small niche in the north-east corner and a plaster bracket against the southernmost post (exactly similar to one found the previous year in rooms E VI, t and 2) probably once held lamps. Above a red plastered lower panel there was a niche, similarly painted and containing a few bone tools, surmounted by a fine bull’s head with red painted muzzle, and holes for nostrils and mouth (Fig. 15; Pl. XIVa). Several superimposed but badly preserved paintings in red surrounded the head ; one of these is shown in the reconstruction (Fig. 15) ; another showed a few clumsily drawn red hands. The head itself may have been painted at the phases that correspond to these paintings, but it was t00 well preserved to be stripped of its outer burnt and well preserved plaster. To the right of the bull's head a pair of mature woman's breasts, modelled in plaster, protruded from the wall. ‘The nipples were replaced by a neatly modelled aperture from which projected bird beaks. By some skilful manipulation the burnt bones were extracted from the hollow breasts and identification has shown that each contained the entire skull of a Griffon Vuleure (Gyps fulvus), the largest and most spectacular of Anatolian vultures, reaching a height of 4r inches. A grisly collection of human bones, scattered and not in the least like any burial at Catal Hayuk, were found in a hole below the platform in front of the bull and the breasts (Pl. XIV). ‘The west wall is dominated by a monumental composition in plaster and bone, which when complete must have reached a height of over 10 feet, so that there must have been a clerestory over the central part of the building, as is suggested in the restoration (Fig, 14). This need not have been rectangular but may have been arched as in some of the wooden Lycian houses or the one shown on the Phaistos disc. In the debris of the collapsed west wall all the elements, save the head of the goddess were found, so that the restoration is almost certain. The legs and bodyEXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 Dawe by Bir. Alok and Mr G, Huta, ine (E VE, 10), Fic, 14. Restoration of the Second Shari2 ANATOLIAN STUDIESEXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 2B were intact when found, but in a collapsed position; the arms were found in the debris. The figure had been painted yellow in at least one phase. ‘Three superimposed bulls’ heads, full size, and modelled in plaster round the horn cores of wild bulls—the lowest rising out of the ground (PI. XIII6), are set within a door-like frame on which rests the enormous figure of the goddess. Supported by a small pilaster a small ram’s head is placed just below her in the same position as is occupied by the bull’s head in the first shrine, indicating perhaps another scene of birth. On either side of this great scene deep caverns, single on the right (north) and double on the left (south) side penetrate into the wall without, however, connecting with the very deep storerooms beyond. One might legitimately infer that these are connected with some chthonic cult, the more so as the lowest of the three bulls is shown as rising out of the earth. None of the three caverns contained any finds, but some obsidian lance-heads and flint daggers (one in its leather sheath !) and a coarse clay figurine were found in the deep storcrooms beyond. The Fifth Shrine (EVI, 31) (Pl. XVa) Two deep storerooms (Nos. 26a and 6 on plan) and a fine house (25) lie between the second shrine, just described, and the fifth and least well-preserved shrine, on the upper terrace. Although the largest in size (7-5 by 5 m.), nothing remains of its plaster decoration but two superimposed bulls’ heads on the west wall, flanked on cither side by plastered posts, an arrangement which is very similar to that of the second shrine, It seems very likely that this was again part of a much larger scene. The Fourth Shrine (E VI, 7) (Fig. 16 and Pl. XVé) Another shrine which has greatly suffered from alterations is the fourth on the lower terrace. Already in 1961 part of it was discovered and cleared down to a later floor which was found covered with numerous remains of wild cattle, including a set of horn cores and an enormous shoulder blade. Of the original structure only the east wall was preserved (Fig. 16). It shows a number of features comparable to those in the second shrine, such as a port-hole entrance set well above the floor and a red plastered niche in the centre of the east wall. But here the resemblance stops and two animal heads are set on the wall on either side of the southern vertical post,** painted red as usual. On the left there was a ram’s head (with the horns of an ewe); whereas on the right was a bull’s head with a single eye. Both bore paintings of hands, as if kneeling worshippers had put their hands dipped in red ochre on the faces of the animals. This is the only shrine where the pillar contained the horn cores, not of a bull, but of a ram. To the west of the building lay several minute chambers, used for storage, one of which con- tained the enormous horn cores illustrated in the previous report.?? This building shared an entrance shaft with the third shrine which must now be described. The Third Shrine (E Vi, 14) (Figs. 17, 18, and Pls. XVI-XVI0) This shrine lies directly east of the previous one and was evidently planned and built with it as one structure. Both share an entrance shaft, subsequently sub- divided by a small partition, and the remaining space is occupied by a granary, * Which still contained the carboi +8 AS, XII, 1962, Pl. Ve. and shrunk remains of squared tiANATOLIAN STUDIES 4 “ampenrt 9 “aye Ma noe, “1A a) Suzys ypanog yp Jo [Tes se ay Jo Sumer “gt “oryEXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 5 entered from the third shrine containing nine grain bins. The main room measures 5:5 by 4:6 m. as against 5-5 by 4g m. in the fourth shrine and the walls of the third shrine were in places preserved up to (or almost up to) roof level, about 2+7 m. in height. The upper parts of the walls were overhanging at a perilous angle and had to be cut away. They were covered with not less than 8 cm. of plaster (Pl. XVIa). ‘The lower part of the wooden ladder and the wooden platform on which it stood were recovered in situ (PI. XVIb). In this building even the south wall had some ornament ; a gracefully modelled cavity was found above floor level, surmounted by a panel crowned with a ram's head. Two others occupied different positions on the east wall, where the central panel between the red painted vertical posts had a large bull’s head fixed on three pegs into the wall (Fig. 17). In the Taised bench were set three horn cores of wild bulls and there was a deep niche in the wall, painted red, just south of the bench. Above it were found three more horn cores of the same animal. Three bull-pillars stood on the platforms and there was a niche for a lamp in the north-cast corner, as in the second shrine, The central part of the room was covered with fine matting (PI. XVIc), made of a marsh grass, laid on a bedding of strewn rushes. There was a central post in the middle of the north wall, as in the second shrine, and another in the north-west corner, capped with a stylized bull’s head instead of the more usual console, the support for more wooden posts which, in turn, supported the roof beams. ‘The centre of the west wall was occupied by a monumental plaster relief reaching almost up to roof level and about 2-5 m. in height (Pl. XVIla). Flanked on either side by the two low doorways which gave access to the shaft and the granary, it presents a scene not unlike that of the second shrine. From the numerous fragments in the debris—this building had not been cleared out after the fire—it was possible to reconstruct a figure of the Twin Goddess (Fig. 18) with two heads, two bodies, a single pair of horizontally placed arms and a single pair of upturned legs. Protruding from the lower part of the body of the right (northern) figure was a magnificent bull’s head with a smaller one modelled on its brow (Pl. XVII}. Muzzle, cars and a ring round the horns were painted red, on numerous occasions, and once or twice there were faded paintings of human hands on the bigger head, ‘The bodies may have had some wooden support in them and the edges showed signs of having been painted red, ‘The arms, legs and heads showed numerous coats of cream plaster and had been modelled—as usual—on bundles of straw or reeds, reduced to ashes in the fire, but still in situ Below the right leg of the figure lay a small pile of bones—leg bones of sheep and some bones of the foot of a dog; below the bull’s head lay three to fout obsidian lance-heads and below the left leg of the figure not less than four magnificent flint daggers (PL XXVIIa). AU over the room we found small deposits of obsidian weapons and mace-heads as well as a few pots. It seems extremely likely that these represent offerings to the deities. In all about 00 tools, weapons and blades were found in this shrine alone, many of them in the storeroom, which produced a wealth of carbonized food remains, But perhaps the most touching offering in this shrine was the tiny body of a minute unborn (or stillborn) baby, which came out of a brick set somewhere high in the wall. According to the prevailing burial habit at Qatal Huyak its body had been exposed until the soft tissues had decayed ; the bones had then been gathered, painted with red ochre, wrapped in a shawl-like fabric and put in a bag and the bag was put in a soft mud brick or lump of clay which still retained its impression. The baby had then been returned to the Goddess. Still a further sign of offerings are the numerous ex-voto clay figurines, mainly76 ANATOLIAN STUDIES7 EXCAVATIONS AT CATAL HUYUK, 1962 “mn Aan poe ren 2m ag “(68 “TA w) suUNIS PARLE, ae Jo TEM YOM aIp Jo. paHONY “Bt “OK78 ANATOLIAN STUDIES of animals, but some schematized figures of human beings also,** which are found in great numbers deposited between the walls of shrines and adjacent buildings (Pl. XVIII2) ; sheep, goats, cattle predominating. These should probably be distinguished from other animal figurines, mainly wild ones, such as boar, cattle, decr (?}, ete., which bear wounds made with arrow- and lance-heads and which were probably used in some hunting ceremony. Most of these came from a Level VI pit, but there are other specimens dated from Level VI that were found in the shrines. Textamive INTERPRETATION oF THE ReLicious ScENES my THE SHRINES OF Lever VI The wealth of religious imagery depicted in the shrines is often hard enough to describe. Its interpretation in terms of comparative religion, however, is even more difficult in the absence of contemporary or earlier material from such sites as Jericho, Seyl Aglat, Eynan, Jatmo or Tepe Sarab. No direct connections can be shown to have existed between any of these sites and Catal Huyik and at all of them evidence for religion and ritual was confined to figurines and burial customs. As a result, the interpretation of the religious ideas of neolithic man at Gatal Huyak is bound to be influenced by evidence derived on the whole from much later sites and which may therefore not be really relevant. In the case of Anatolia or Greece the earliest (second millennium) sources already show accretions, modifications and syncretism as the result of the arrival of forcign invaders (Hittites, Luvians, Greeks) from the north with religious ideas which may have differed significantly from those of the earlier population. Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that the earlier elements of religion survived to a remarkable extent leaving their mark in the cult of Mother Goddesses right down to Christian times, A strong Anatolian element is notable in Minoan-Mycenacan religion, for which at least there is abundant evidence. Shorn of its more specifically northern, that is Greek or Mycenaean elements, this religion of Crete produces numerous parallels, Anatolian influence in Crete cannot be denied and Professor John Evans's Tecent excavations at Knossos have shown that the first neolithic inhabitants there arrived with pottery and crops that can only be derived from western Anatolia. Tt may therefore be assumed that their religion also should show strong Anatolian traces, Our main evidence for Gretan beliefs, however, dates from the second millennium ».c,, but this is supplemented by numerous myths preserved in classical writings. Minoan religion and its inheritance in Greek religion are the only sources which at the moment are liable to contribute to our interpretation of neolithic religion and mythology at Gatal Hiiyik. In view of the strong conservatism in religious belie and rites in the Aegean and Western Anatolia such parallels as there are may go back to a common ancestry. In any case we have no other choice. That the buildings we have described as shrines were used as such or as household chapels for the practice ofa ncolithic eult, I hope needs no further proof. That in all their essentials they resembled dwellings is not surprising, for man models his deities in anthropomorphic form and a shrine is the house of the deity. Decoration, massed cult symbols, offerings, etc., make it clear that these buildings served a special purpose, even if they were inhabited by priestesses (or priests)EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 79 administering to the cult. There is certainly no space for children romping about or for large families. The care with which they were maintained sets them apart from normal dwellings. ‘That the neolithic religion of Gatal Hayuk was basically concerned with fertility is beyond argument, The mystery of birth and death has naturally fascinated man from the earliest times and with it the idea of resurrection after death. In the shrines of Level VI it may have been observed that scenes dealing with birth are placed on the wall opposite to the one below which the dead are buried. This is hardly a coincidence, but until we have shrines from the other side of the mound it would be premature to suggest that life was associated with the west and death with the east. Wherever any orientation can be observed among the dead the heads are placed towards the west, the feet to the east, but in our area that may simply mean that they were oriented towards the centre of the living room. Tn the three scenes preserved we see a goddess in the position of giving birth to a bull (E VI, 8) or a ram (E VI, 10), and in E VI, 14, one of the twin deities gives birth to two (?) bulls, Only the heads of these animals are shown, as in the case of the clay figure, where the goddess is shown bearing a child (Pl. XXIV). The analogy is obvious. Although the way of representation is different in each case, one feels that the same thing is meant, Most intriguing, though, is that one half of the twin goddess is shown as giving birth and to two bulls, Does this composite scene show the goddess as maid and mother and do the two bulls, both her children, symbolize son and husband ? Nor is it at all clear what the frame (or door?) with the three superimposed bulls’ heads in E VI, 10, signifies. This may well represent some lost myth, The goddess with a son or/and husband in the form of a bull is common in Near Eastern and Aegean myth but an offspring in the form of a ram—though an obvious parallel among carly stockbreeders—is as far as I know not otherwise attested. Both bull and ram are obvious choices as representatives of animal lust and virility, but it is noteworthy that the goat is not represented at Catal Hityik, perhaps for simple reasons of ecology. In Crete the goat, a natural inhabitant of that moun- tainous island, seems to take the place of the ram (essentially an animal of the plain) at Gatal Hyuk, but in each case the bull is the more common animal, and in Anatolia it seems to have given its name to the two most prominent mountain ranges, the Taurus and the Antitaurus (Turkish Binboga Dag—“ the mountain of the thousand bulls). Nor should we forget the enormous bull (or cow?) above the wavy lines (water ?) in E VI, 8, or its later equivalent in the shrine A III, 1 (and also the scene in E IV, i, Pl. V6). Only once does a ram’s head—with four horns—occur in the same position on the north wall of E VI, 10. Far more puzzling are the scenes on the east walls above the burial places of the dead, Cult niches with bull’s head suggest an association—does the animal live in a cave or cavern? Here the Hattic texts (which may well record pre-Hittite beliefs of the third millennium or earlier) may come to our help, for there we hear ofa hole in the ground—in other words an entrance to the underworld—or a spring into which the fertility god lives or retires.2* In Greck mythology all river gods are bulls and the whole concept is bound up with ideas of water and fertility. Below the niche in E VI, 10, was found a limestone concretion with a carved head (Pl. XEX4), another link of the goddess with caves, for such concretions may well be broken off stalagmites. A connection with the underworld is obvious and % AS. XI, 1959, PP. 171-3.80 ANATOLIAN STUDIES emphasized by the burials or human bones in this case immediately in front of the niche. Not less remarkable is the association of caves in Minoan religion with concretions, stalagmites, as birthplace of Zeus Cretagenes, the male fertility god, suckled by goats in a cave, or the association of the Goddess herself (Eileithyia, Rhea, Diktynna, etc.) with caves or mountains.*# ‘The breasts, heavy as if full of milk, found on the same wall, again introduce the idea of feeding but the vulture skulls inside each show an obvious connection with death—the beginning and end of all life, a sort of dramatic illustration to the saying “in the midst of life there is death . As scavengers the vultures, and in Anatolia the huge Griffon vulture in particular, played an important role. The cleaning of corpses at Catal Hit even if not done by vultures, might easily have given rise to the association and a picture of a bird (probably a vulture) found with the statue of an old woman. (probably the Goddess) in room E VI, 25, next door to this shrine supports the association. In a more evolved form we find Griffins (vulture-headed lions) frequently associated with the Minoan Goddess, especially in connection with death and the underworld.*” The parallel can hardly be regarded as irrelevant. The combination of symbols related to life and death recurs on the cast wall of the first shrine (E V1, 8). Here the numerous breasts remind one unmistakably of many-breasted Artemis of Ephesus, a mother-goddess of western Anatolia. A recent suggestion that the breasts are really eggs hardly changes the fertility aspect and seems somewhat far-fetched, At Gatal breasts are shown, not eggs, and they covered the lower jaws and tusks of enormous boars. These then occupy the same position as the vulture skulls in the next shrine and in cach case the most characteristic part of the animal stands for the whole. It is known that wild boar is another scavenger, it will eat anything including corpses and as such its associa- tion with death is evident. In Greece pigs were sacrificed to Demeter and other chthonian deities. In numerous Near Eastern and Aegean myths it is the boar who kills the male god (Adonis, Attis, ete.) ; whereas in others it suckled the infant Zeus,** good ritual reasons, the one and the other, for not eating pork. At Catal Haydk, pork does not seem to have been an item of the menu. The interpretation of the lowest honeycomb pattern I should like to present with some hesitation. It certainly looks as if the sequence from left to right suggests the life story of the bee with closed cells, opening cells and finally the emergence of bees (?) on a field of flowers. In the second painting it is, however, clear that a field of flowers with chrysalises swaying from boughs (wavy lines at the top) and insects (butterflies ?) was depicted before the honeycomb was painted over it, and this may have been the same in the first case also. Leaving aside the correct entomological identifica tion or the possibility that neolithic man connected bees with butterflies (even if the first only provided him with honey) there is no doubt about the fact that inscets are being shown, and that in a connection with other scenes which are closely related with the theme of life and death. When we look elsewhere for insects in a fertility cult we find that Artemis of Ephesus had her cult administered by a college of sixty priestesses called bees (melissai) and a bee figured on the coinage of that city. Bees or bee-goddesses figure in Cretan religion and according to one . Picard, Les Religions Préhellénigues, Paris, 1948, pp. 58, 102, 117 id., pp. 77, 85, 171, 198. ibid., p. 116.PLATE XII gon 984n Ma dos angy ‘usonved spuey pue quorauoy rsypre2 Jo Adog -oeryd as “SUE g ‘TA ZJO TE er (2) PLTX 1d 3°, dan ea) quiosXouoy 2p M0154 sIDKOY PUL S3IBHoNING “seqERKay Jo oI UT WOT (9) “Spun pare ussred quroddoxoKg saddn yo Ador “oman @ “TA a JO tte weg (2)PLATE XI (2) Second Level VI shrine in area E (EVI, 10). General view of west and north wall, Above scale plaster ram's head with four horns ; bull pillar on the right. (8) West wall of E VE, 10 shrine (see Fig. 14) with three superimposed bulls! heads and collapsed upperPLATE XIV (#) The scatter of human bones in the pit below the bull’s head in PI. XIVa.PLATE XV (®) East wall of Fourth Shrine in Level VE (IE VI, 7) with doorway on the left (see Fig. 16).PLATE XVI (a) South-east comer of i (6) South-east corner of E VI, 14 shrine. Imprint of E area (E VI, 14), showing the 8 cm. thick plaster. wooden ladder and remain ‘of wooden spponing (©) EVI, 14 shrine, Enlarged detail of marsh-geass matting covering the floor of the shrine.PLATE XVII (a) EVI, 14 shrine. West wall with collapsed plaster relief (sce Fig. 18) and shafts on right. Entrance to granary on left. (0) BVI, tgaheine, The evo superimpoted and painted * bulls heads, msPLATE XVI (2) Group of ex oto crude figurines of animals and one human being. From utd eave wall of Base See te eu oe (6) Walk-painting of fifty-seven children’s hands on north wall of room E VI, 15-EXCAVATIONS AT GATAL HUYUK, 1962 Br myth the infant Zeus was fed by bees in a cave.!® Bees nest in hollow trees, on rocks or in caves and the usefulness of these industrious insects was known to man long before. The supremacy of the queen bee in the hive would have appealed to neolithic man’s structure of his pantheon, Honey and milk are obvious foods for infants, e.g. for Gretan Zeus in the myths, and are among the standard offerings to the dead as well as to the deities of the underworld, There are myths of the dead embalmed in honey.*® The association of bee and honey both with life and death is thus well attested and causes no surprise in the neolithi But what of our chrysalis and butterflies? The metamorphosis from apparent death to life can hardly have escaped observant people such as our neolithic people certainly were and they could easily have seen some important symbolism there fit to be recorded on the east wall of a shrine. Here again we are reminded of the two bees round the honeycomb in the pendant from the princely tomb at Chryso- lakkos near Mallia, the chrysalises in gold from Minoan tombs or the gold leaves with butterflies from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae. Classical Greek sources reveal the belief that the deceased’s soul (psyche) took the form of a bee or butterfly, a belief which may well be of immense antiquity. There remain the panels of hands, both positive and negative, with four or five fingers. Here our Aegean parallels fail us, nor do we know of any Near Eastern parallels in antiquity. Modern parallels, however, abound throughout the Near East and in Greece. In the village of Kuiciikkoy, our base, a doorway bears two red hands for protection against the Evil Eye. The sign with four fingers is used in Greece as a protection against the Devil, its Christian equivalent. The function appears to be apotropaic. In other places of the Near East, hands are dipped in blood after a sacrifice and stuck on the wall as a sort of signature of having partaken in a ceremony. The hands on the animal heads at Gatal could be interpreted in this way, red paint being a substitute for blood. ‘The significance of the numerous human hands in the Upper Palaeolithic cave sanctuaries of the Franco-Cantabrian area still escapes us. Perhaps our hands served a similar purpose. Communion with the deity or with the deities’ abodes is as likely an interpretation as protection or prayer and none of these three explanations is necessarily exclusive. We may here note that the hand placed sideways, often with four fingers, continues after Qatal Huydk in the Hacilar culture, One of the best examples was found on a pot in a woman's grave below the floor of the shrine of Level I1.2* Panels of hands above the burial places of the dead and the resting places of the living evidently ward off evil, protect both living and dead by putting them “in touch ” with the deity, They may have served the same function as the plain red panels, the red ochre on the burials and the textile paintings which sometimes take their place. In house E VI, 15, a panel with originally not less than sixty children’s hands (Pl. XVIIIé) covered an earlier one which evidently represents a textile, Others occur in house E VI, 1, where they are especially common ** (see below). The association of textiles with both living and dead is not hatd to see. We still speak of the “ thread of life ”. Gay colours are worn for protection and shrouds of various colours protect the dead ; kilim patterns have magic meanings to this day, etc. 3 ibid., pp. 83, 116-7. Ibid Bhs 257, 263 * AS. X11, 1962, p. 595 Pls. Xb, XI AS. Xe 1960; PL. XIV6 (the hand is ison the other side ofthe pot!)