Sanctifying the House: Child Burial in Prehistoric Anatolia

Not Seeing Is Believing: Ritual Practice and Architecture at Chalcolithic Çadır Höyük in Anatolia

“…These deposits can further be divided into those that contain the burial of an infant or very young child and those that do not. Based on the locations and material characteristics of these deposits, it is the excavators' sense that they function in similar ways (Yıldırım et al 2018). As we elaborate on below, we believe that these deposits serve to "ensoul" the architecture of the settlement and to commemorate life-cycle events of architecture considered to be animate and agentive.…”

“…Foundation deposits consecrate and formalize architecture in many periods and cultures, including modern, Western ones: consider the practice of ceremonially laying an inscribed cornerstone at the beginning of construction. In ancient Anatolia, foundation deposits are well-attested, from the Neolithic (Carter et al 2015;Russell and Meece 2006), through the Chalcolithic (Gülçur and Kiper 2007;Yıldırım et al 2018;Steadman et al 2019c), and well into the Bronze Age (see Bertram and Bertram 2021 for an overview of Early Bronze sites). Infant burials may seem more exceptional but are in fact ubiquitous domestic deposits across ancient Anatolia, the Aegean, and the Near East (McGeorge 2013;Moses 2012;Thomas 2017;Yıldırım et al 2018;Duru 1996;Lloyd and Mellaart 1962;Schoop 2015;von der Osten 1937;Özgen and Helwing 2003;Özbek 2001;Esin 2000;Massa 2014;Selover and Durgun 2019).…”

“…In ancient Anatolia, foundation deposits are well-attested, from the Neolithic (Carter et al 2015;Russell and Meece 2006), through the Chalcolithic (Gülçur and Kiper 2007;Yıldırım et al 2018;Steadman et al 2019c), and well into the Bronze Age (see Bertram and Bertram 2021 for an overview of Early Bronze sites). Infant burials may seem more exceptional but are in fact ubiquitous domestic deposits across ancient Anatolia, the Aegean, and the Near East (McGeorge 2013;Moses 2012;Thomas 2017;Yıldırım et al 2018;Duru 1996;Lloyd and Mellaart 1962;Schoop 2015;von der Osten 1937;Özgen and Helwing 2003;Özbek 2001;Esin 2000;Massa 2014;Selover and Durgun 2019). While some excavators (e.g., Moses 2008Moses , 2012 have assumed that these burials were evidence of the consecration of buildings through child sacrifice, the frequency of intramural infant burials is generally accepted to match the expected rate of infant mortality in prehistoric communities (Hillson et al 2013;Carter et al 2015).…”

“…It is not difficult to imagine that the impulse to inter very young children within the house sprang simultaneously from the desire to protect a young family member and to be protected by an entity that was somehow between the realms of living and dead. We have argued elsewhere (Yıldırım et al 2018) that the Anatolian practice of including the bodies of baby animals, obsidian blanks and flakes, ochre, metal, and other raw materials with young children in these deposits is connected with ideas about youth and potential: the power of materials that are capable of being made into something. Obsidian and metal, particularly, are malleable materials that are often refashioned when an object breaks or "dies".…”

“…The concept of an ensouled house experiencing its own lifecycle as a member of a kin group is compatible with the practice of incorporating foundation deposits and infant burials into a structure throughout its life, as these practices explicitly materialize lifecycle events occurring while the building stands and cause it to participate in the rhythms of domestic life (Yıldırım et al 2018). Critically, these deposits are found under floors or at the foundations of walls, where they are less likely to be disturbed by rebuilding as long as the new walls continue to be built on the existing foundations.…”