Neolithic

A rich and complex stratigraphic situation was the revealed in the three westernmost Squares of the trench covering the area 10 x 30 meters, comprising six Neolithic buildings. Altogether, they represent at least three phases of the Neolithic occupation: (i) four regular buildings: B 172, B. 173, B. 174, and B. 175; (ii) a special purpose room inserted into B. 173 (Space 668); (iii) four unspecified structures made of white regular bricks: Sp. 672, Sp. 674, Sp. 676, and Sp. 677. 

The earliest phase is represented by four buildings: B 172, B. 173, B. 174, and B. 175. B. The two former are located in Square 1 while two latter are in Squares 1 and 3. 

Building 172 (Space 666) is a solid mudbrick structure located in northern part of Square 1. Only its southernmost section is placed inside the trench, while its major part is located directly north of northern edge of this Square. As northern part of the building is beyond the trench, it is impossible to estimate its size. The part of the building in the trench has ca. 20 m2. The walls were made of orange bricks. Southern part of the building is divided into two rooms by a double wall. The western room within the trench has 3.8 m2, while its eastern counterpart has 9.5 m2. 

Building 173 (Space 667) in Square 1 is a rectangular mudbrick structure with an interior surface of ca. 40 m2. Almost entire building is located within the excavated area except for its southernmost part. Both northern and eastern walls are made of light brown bricks. As only the uppermost course of these walls was preserved, neither their size nor shape got recognized at this point. Southern wall of the building appears to be beyond the edge of the trench. As only the uppermost parts of the building were unearthed in the 2018 season, and considering later intensive occupation of this area, mostly from the post-Neolithic period, neither in-built structures nor internal space divisions have been recognized to date. The stratigraphic relations between these two dwelling structures in not certain but most likely B. 173 is earlier than B. 172. 

Of a similar chronological position is Building 174 (Space 673) in NE part of Square 3. It is almost entirely located in the excavated area except for a small part of its NW corner. The building is rectangular in shape and is ca. 6 m long and 5 m wide. Its inner surface has ca. 31 m2 while the outer surface has ca. 40 m2. Its single walls were made of brown bricks. The inner surfaces of the walls are plastered over.

The fourth dwelling structure of a similar character -Building 175 was unearthed directly to the west of B. 174. It is extremely well preserved. An inner surface of the reconstructed part of the building has ca. 21 m2, while the outer surface has ca. 28 m2. The building is composed of three rooms: northern (Space 680), western (Space 681), and eastern (Space 682). Three its walls (eastern, western and southern) are located in the trench: while, the northern wall is placed beyond the edge of the trench. The building has two partition walls.

The excavation revealed the uppermost floors in all three rooms of B. 175. No built-in features were revealed in the eastern room (Sp. 682) of the building. Extremely interesting arrangements were revealed against the northern wall of the eastern room. A kind of small niche was dug onto the eastern part of the northern partition wall (F.10047). The floor surface formed a longitudinal depression (40164), parallel to the northern wall of the room (F.10073). The installation of yet unspecified character, made of three horn corns, was found there. A large vessel was embedded into the floor of the room against its western wall. It is unclear whether it was placed there during the room occupation, and hence is to be associated with the final construction of the floor, or belongs to one of the earlier phases of its occupation. 

Only a small part the northern room Sp. 680 of B. 175 is located inside the trench and hence only it southern fragment was unearthed. Despite its small size, this room appears to be the most elaborated out of three segments of the building. A large domed oven was placed in SE corner of the room (F. 10106). It is a large construction with a solid superstructure. Directly opposite the oven on the western wall of the room, there is an installation made of clay application and horn core. 

A history of B. 175 after its abandonment was complicated. The large section of the area of the former building, particularly their central, northern and eastern parts, was cut by the large truncation in S-N alignment. It destroyed a significant portion of the building, as well as a significant portion of infill of B. 175, deposited there right after the building was abandoned. No permanent remains of any occupation were revealed, however one can expect that the area might have been temporarily explored or exploited by the settlement inhabitants. It is possible the truncation was made by the Neolithic groups that were unable cope with excess of midden materials deposited south the B.175 in the open area between the houses. Destroying a significant part of the remaining parts of the abandoned house made it possible to resolve a problem of the lack of space. 

The next phase of occupation is marked by a kind of special purpose room of yet unspecified character that was clearly inserted into SE part of B. 173 (Space 668). The room has ca. 4 m2. Its well preserved walls are made of yellow mudbricks. The inner surface of the walls was plastered over. The western wall has a kind of doorway cutting through this wall. The character and function of this room is to be specified during next excavation seasons. This room is an example of a typical Late Neolithic practice of inserting later structures into existing architecture with parallels from TP and TPC Areas. The most distinct of them are two burials chambers from TP Area - Sp. 248 and Sp. 327 as well as a grain storage room (Sp. 493) inserted into B. 122 in TPC Area. 

The latest Neolithic phase is represented by four largely destroyed structures made of white regular bricks. They were constructed after the abandonment of B.172, 173, 174, and 175. One of such unspecified rooms/buildings is located in the northernmost part of B. 172 in Square 1 (Space 672). Fragments of its three walls (western, eastern and southern) were preserved, while northern wall is placed outside northern edge of the trench. The room was certainly inserted into earlier B. 172, which is a reminiscence of the practice typical for the Late Neolithic. Small fragments of a very similar structure were also found in central-eastern part of Square 1. It is represented by two short walls (F.10033 - northern; F.10034 - western). This room was certainly built against eastern wall (F.10006) of an earlier B. 173 and was also inserted into it. Due to a considerable post-depositional destruction, functional and structural relations between these two rooms (?) of Sp. 672 are very difficult to specify and can only be tentatively reconstructed. 

A similar structure was revealed directly to the east in Square 2 (Sp. 676), while the third structure (Space 674) was found in SE part of Square 2 and SW part of Square 3. Fragments of all four walls of Sp. 674 were identified. The character and origin of the deposits within the walls of Sp. 674 are difficult to specify. Most likely, this is rather a midden than the room infill. Hence, the building might have been constructed after the process of midden accumulation ceased. From the stratigraphic standpoint, however, it is clear that the building was constructed deliberately against southern wall of B. 174. Considering striking similarities in the constructional materials and shape of structures Sp. 674 and Sp. 676, they appear to be contemporaneous. Due to severe destruction, the character and function of these structures are very difficult to discern and reconstruct. It has to be mentioned that fragments of a similar structure (Space 677) were also found in NE corner of Square 2. It is represented a small section of yet unspecified room while its remaining parts are beyond northern edge of the trench. Its southern wall is made of the course of white and regularly formed and very well preserved bricks. Western wall is equally well preserved and it is clearly visible in northern section of the trench. 

Space 669 is made of a sequence of heterogeneous deposits placed between the western wall of B. 175 (F. 10046) and eastern walls of B. 172 (F. 10004) and 173 (F.10006). It is made of four superimposed layers (40056, 40112 and 40143 and 40144). Their character is not easy to specify but it seems to be indicative of an open space - an area between two buildings that was temporarily occupied. The northern and central part of the Space looks more like an fill while its southern part is more midden-like. It is most likely a continuation of the large midden (40175) in southern part of the trench 40175 in Space 683. 

The two uppermost layers of this Space (40056 and 40112) comprised a number of complete animal bones, including sheep and goat horn corns as well as cattle scapula. Their completeness, presence in the form of cluster, additionally accompanied by distinct obsidian tools, may indicate a deliberate placement of this cluster, most likely as a part of post-abandonment activities. The third layer (40143) in Space 669 is made of a pretty distinct, albeit significantly destroyed, occupational layer made of marly matter. This may well be the remains of eroded floor. A huge cluster of animal bones (40128) was placed in this layer. It is made of a large number of horn cores, mainly caprines, but also few cattle, mandibles and other long bones as well as worked bones, work stones, figurine and stamp. It is certainly a deliberately deposited cluster, most likely in relation to some kind of feasting and post-abandonment rituals. The layer 40144 may well be the room fill. It was considerably heterogeneous and contained a small number of archaeological material. 

Space 676 is located directly beneath Space 669 and is defined as the occupational area. It is made of a white surface with a range of built-in structures. They were constructed against western of B. 175, which means they clearly post-date its construction. From the north, its built-in structures were constructed against the southern wall of Space 678 (F. 10048), which is the white structure inserted into the fill layer of this open space . Hence, Sp. 669 marks the latest Neolithic occupational activity in the part of the excavated area. Based upon stratigraphy, the area is later than Sp. 678 and B. 175. In any case, Sp. 669 is indicative of the presence of unspecified type of non-permanent occupation at Çatalhöyük towards the end of its occupation in the Neolithic. It is most likely contemporary with similar light structures in TP and TPC Areas. 

This occupational area is made of the surface made of marl made and deposits of unspecified character. Its overall condition is bad as it was significantly eroded away and destroyed by different post-depositional processes. The most distinct is the northern part of the occupational area. A sequence of bricks, most likely used to back fill this part of the area, was placed on its floor. The most distinct feature related to this occupational area is the oval oven (F. 10095) located in its northern part. Postholes found in this area are indicative of the presence of light structure with light roofing. This may imply a temporal character of this dwelling structure. 

Space 678 is placed in the north-central part of Square 2. The revealed elements most likely belong to an unspecified dwelling structure placed directly to the north beyond the edge of the excavated trench. Only its southernmost room is placed inside the trench. The room was defined by three solid walls made of white bricks with little pebbles. The eastern wall was firmly placed against the western wall F. 10047 of B.175. This indicates that Space 678 is later than B. 175. At the same time, the southern wall F. 10048 appears to be a later addition to the structure and hence seems to define the latest phase of occupation of this space. 

Within the walls, a pretty distinct platform/floor F. 10065, directly north of the wall F. 10048, was unearthed. It has a dimension of 1.34 x 0.50 m. It is made of white matter mixed with white pebbles, which from the constructional standpoint is pretty similar to the walls of the room. The extent of the platform is unknown as it goes into the section of the trench. However, its eastern edge is very distinct and most likely was built in relation to pretty indistinct N-S wall, which is seen in the northern section of the trench. The whereabouts of this wall is to be clarify in due course when the work in this part of the trench will continue. A circular posthole pit (F.10066) 0.34 m in diameter was dug into the south-western corner of the Space. A cluster (40063) of animal bones including: scapula, horn cores, mandible, as well as some worked stones, was deposited directly on the platform F.10065. 

The Space was exposed but not excavated in the 2019 season. Taking into consideration the character of building material, Space 678 seems to be contemporary with B. 176 (Space 674). 

Building 176 is located in the southern part of Squares 2 & 3. It is a multi-roomed large building in a NE-SE alignment. All four walls of the room were preserved, albeit to different extent. They were made of white marl substance and small white pebbles. These pebbles seem to be similar to pebbles used for the construction of floor in B. 61 and 62 in the TP Area. It is composed of at least two separate rooms recorded as Spaces 674 and 684. The southernmost part of the building is located outside the southern edge of the excavated area. This part was destroyed, 

The room Sp. 674 had a surface of 5.67 m2. The plastered floor of the room is well preserved. A narrow entrance to the room was located in the southern wall of the room. A circular oven F. 10057 was placed in SE corner of the room, just right to the entrance. A solid, albeit partly preserved, platform F. 10070 was built against the western wall of the room. 

Sp.684 marks the north-western room of the building. All four walls of the rooms were recognized. The room has 2.30 m2. The work in 2019 made it only possible to unearth the uppermost parts of the walls. 
The stratigraphy of this part of the excavated area implies that B. 176 was built against earlier B. 174, located directly to the north. The building was made of a completely different constructional material, mostly brown mudbricks. At the same time, B. 176 is certainly earlier than B. 177 (Space 679), which nethermost part was constructed directly above its southern part.  However, it has to be stressed that no stratigraphic and physical relation between the two structures exist at present. 

Building 177 is certainly the latest dwelling structure in the East Area revealed to date. It is located in the southernmost part of Square 3. Only a very small fragment of this unspecified structure is placed in the excavated area. It is triangle in shape and is made of fragments of two walls making up the NW corner of the building. Considering the unprecedented size of is walls and presence of Late Neolithic pottery, one can predict we are dealing here with a large Neolithic structure of unspecified character. 

The building was constructed on the fill of earlier B. 176. The floor of the unearthed part of the building was filled in by a sequence of horizontally placed bricks. They were laid down in different alignments and were not bonded with each other. The most viable explanation is that this a deliberate filling of the building interior following its abandonment. This kind of filling of the empty space was also found in B. 122 in TPC Area.

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