Getting to the Bottom of It All: A Bayesian Approach to Dating the Start of Çatalhöyük

Abstract

A new radiocarbon dating program, conceived at the outset within a Bayesian statistical framework, has recently been applied to the earliest levels of occupation on the Neolithic East Mound at Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. Çatalhöyük was excavated by James Mellaart from 1961 to 1965 and new excavations directed by Ian Hodder started in 1993. In 2012 the site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. However, the precise dating of the site has remained insecure, bracketed somewhere between the late eighth and the early sixth millennium BC calibrated. In a new dating program reported on here, dates previously obtained from the site have been allied with new dates to produce a series of models that could be evaluated statistically and in relation to taphonomic considerations. The preferred model puts the earliest excavated layers at Çatalhöyük 200years later than previously thought. The implications of this later dating for local continuity and for the spread of pottery are discussed

Small carnivores from a Late Neolithic burial chamber at Çatalhöyük, Turkey: pelts, rituals, and rodents

“…Separate strings of levels have been identified for the other areas: South.G-South.T (South Area) and 4040.F-4040.J (North Area) (Farid and Hodder 2014). The main occupational sequence at Çatalhöyük East probably lasted about 950 to 1150 years, beginning in 7100 cal BC and ending between 6200 and 5900 cal BC (e.g., Hodder et al 2007;Hodder, 2013c with further references; Bayliss et al 2015). As a result of excavations in the TP Area in 2007, a burial chamber was discovered, containing multiple burials and the small carnivores presented here.…”

The Preservation and Interpretation of δ34S Values in Charred Archaeobotanical Remains

“…Twenty charred archaeobotanical samples of a variety of taxa from Neolithic Çatalhöyük, in the southern Konya plain, central Anatolia ( c .7100–5950 cal bc ) (Bayliss et al . ; Marciniak et al ), were measured for δ 34 S and δ 15 N values. Different plant parts were analysed depending on the species: cereal grains, lentil seeds, reed culm/stem, nut shell and nut meat.…”

Monitoring earthen archaeological heritage using multi-temporal terrestrial laser scanning and surface change detection

“…Çatalhöyük is a nine-thousand-year-old Neolithic city (7100-5900 cal BCE) located in the Konya plain in central Anatolia-near the town of Çumra (37° 40' 19.64'' N, 32° 49' 24.63'' E)-which is considered a key site for understanding human prehistory [29]. The 13.5-hectare East Mound is a very rare, well-preserved example of a Neolithic settlement that grew to a population of about 8,000 people [30].…”