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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Clay World of Çatalhöyük: A fine-grained perspective

The Clay World of Çatalhöyük: A fine-grained perspective

Doherty, Chris

Paperback

Series: BAR International, Book 2981

Archaeology

ISBN10: 1407354221
ISBN13: 9781407354224
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports
Published: Apr 30 2020
Pages: 138
Weight: 1.02
Height: 0.38 Width: 8.27 Depth: 11.69
Language: English

This book addresses a paradox concerning the role of clay at Çatalhöyük that arises from conflicting material culture and landscape views of what clay truly afforded this early agricultural community. The highly-developed and artistically rich clay-based material culture points to clay being a major contributor to the site's success. However, the underlying thick, impermeable clay beds are also thought to have impeded the drainage of seasonal floods, periodically isolating the community in extensive wetlands and clearly hostile to early agriculture. A landscape re-appraisal is made based on the recognition that the heavier clay artifacts must have been locally sourced and can therefore be read as direct samples of the local Neolithic landscape. The result is a revised landscape interpretation that no longer conflicts with the observed patterns of clay use or broader subsistence practice at Çatalhöyük. Clay's role is re-examined in this revised landscape context to demonstrate a fuller and more complex picture than previously thought.

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