Conclusions and Future research

Excavations in 2004 have enabled study of more than 12 contemporary buildings, and comparison of neighbourhoods in different areas of the mound. Microstratigraphic and micromorphological analysis is enabling study of both remarkable of continuity and change in socio-cultural and ecological practices at ultra high-resolution timescales in the order of monthly, seasonal, annual and life-cycle timescales, within individual buildings.

The aim in the new five-year phase of micromorphological research is to examine cycles of sediments and biological and micro-artefactual remains in buildings and middens to study seasonal and longer-term cycles and changes in activity. This will contribute to the study of larger-scale intra and inter-household relationships different ‘neighbourhoods' and areas of the site, as well as through more than 1000 years of sustainable occupation from 7,400 BC to 6,200 BC. To these ends, in Summer 2004, more than 50 micromorphological samples were collected from key oven and hearth areas and platforms within buildings, and one of the first streets and open areas at the site.

Sequences in middens were studied by Lisa-Marie Shillito in conjunction with phytolith analysis, and will be analysed using a range of microanalytical techniques, as part of a new PhD studentship funded by The University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund and industry: CEMAS, in the School of Chemistry, jointly with the Department of Archaeology. Combining phytolith and thin section analysis has proved difficult, but there is definite potential. The possibility of identifying the plant types that are present in a single depositional layer, perhaps only a few mm thick, can be realised through high-resolution spot sampling and analysis of phytoltihs, which gives information on uncharred as well as the charred remains that are more easily visible in thin section. There is future potential for looking for burning signals using the refractive indices of phytoliths, and it is hoped to be more specific with the phytolith extractions by taking them from coprolite samples – combined with organic residue analysis, this could give a broad dietary spectrum for omnivore species, revealing both the meat and plant aspects of the diet. So as well as looking at the precise depositional context of such deposits we can give an accurate analysis of the species and possibly diet.

The change to use of more oxidised coarser sediments for many plasters and mud bricks in later levels, particularly from Level VII and V, raises significant questions about palaeoenvironmental and climatic change with the possibility of sudden and heavy drought from 6,500-100 BC (Kuzucuoğlu 2002, 36), as well as access to specific materials and areas of the landscape by different sectors of the community and households. Access is likely to have been related to wider social and economic networks. Elemental and mineralogical differences in microstratigraphic sequences of plasters will be determined using a range of microanalytical techniques to enable scientific analysis of spatial and temporal variation in materials, and their social and palaeocological significance. This research will be conducted by Joanne Wiles, in new PhD research, funded by a University of Reading Studentship Award to Joanne, jointly supervised in Chemistry and Archaeology by Matthew Almond and Wendy Matthews, developing methods and techniques piloted in the study of four spot samples of red ochre from Çatalhöyük (Mortimore et al 2004). This analysis identified the ochre as haematite, mixed with a soft lime with calcite and silicate (clay) minerals (Mortimore et al 2004, 1179).

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the Turkish General Directorate of Museums and Heritage and the Konya Museum for permission to export the small blocks of soil for micromorphological analysis and study microstratigraphic sequences at Çatalhöyük. We wish to thank Serena Love, a doctoral student at Stanford University for kindly agreeing to collect micromorphological samples during the last 10 days of the excavation. A NERC student travel grant supported travel to the site by Lisa-Marie Shillito to conduct independent research for her MSc Geoarchaeology Dissertation. We are very grateful to the Project Director, Ian Hodder, Site Director Shahina Farid, and all team members for the kind support given to this research.

We are also very grateful the following Project Directors for kind permission to study microstratigraphic sequences at other sites: Dr Douglas Baird and Professor Trevor Watkins at Pınarbşı, Dr John Last and Dr Catriona Gibson on the West Mound at Çatalhöyük; Professor Ufuk Esin at Aşıklı Höyük, Dr Mihriban Özbaşaran at Musular, and Dr Nur Balkan Atlı and Dr Didier Binder at Kaletepe.