Çatal Hüyük in perspective

✍ Scribed by Todd I.A.

• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 188
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Cummings Publishing Company, 1976. — 167 pp. — (Cummings modular program in anthropology). — ISBN 0-8465-1958-5.

The site of Çatal Hüyük, which lies in the Konya Plain of south central Turkey, has revealed a sophisticated Neolithic settlement dating to the seventh and sixth millennia B. C. The remarkable state of preservation of the architecture and artifacts provides an unusually detailed picture of life on the Anatolian Plateau ca. 6000 B. C. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the excavations lies in the works of art (wall paintings, plaster reliefs, and other features) that were discovered in many of the buildings. Such evidence had never been recovered before, and it cast an entirely new light on peoples' artistic abilities and complex religious beliefs at a time when they had but recently adopted a sedentary way of life. Çatal Hüyük is unique in many ways, and the excavations there have revolutionized our thinking about the prehistory of the Near East.
The purpose of this book is to summarize available information about Çatal Hüyük, and to consider the site in the wider framework of Near Eastern prehistory. The earlier sections are devoted to a factual examination of the site and the material found on it, while the later sections relate the site to its environment and to contemporary communities. These latter aspects have received little attention in print, and much new information has become available since James Mellaart wrote his preliminary reports and monograph. Such data are essential for a more accurate and complete understanding of the interaction of man with his environment, and his ability to adapt to the changes inherent in the growth of an increasingly complex society. There is a general tendency to underrate the capabilities of people in prehistoric societies, but excavations at sites such as Çatal Hüyük and Jericho have clearly shown a high degree of sophistication, achieved under favorable circumstances long before the invention of writing and other sunnosed attributes of civilization.
The book has been written for the interested layperson as well as for students and scholars who do not have a detailed knowledge of the prehistory of Anatolia.

Introduction.
The Site.
The Excavations.
The Architecture.
The Wall Paintings.
Reliefs, Cutout Figures, and Other Features.
Burial Customs, Demography, and Pathology.
Small Finds.
Chronology.
Environmental Studies.
Economy, Trade, and Settlement Pattern.
The Place of Çatal Hüyük in Anatolian and Near Eastern Prehistory.

✦ Subjects

Исторические дисциплины;Археология;Каменный век;Неолит