Substantive Technologies at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000–2008 Seasons: Çatalhöyük Research Project Volume 9

by Ian Hodder (Editor)

The ways in which humans became increasingly engaged in their material environment, such that "things" came to play an active force in their lives, is the subject of this volume in the Çatalhöyük series. The alluvial clays surrounding the site were extremely important in this dynamic involvement. In the absence of local stone, humans extracted and manipulated clay for a wide range of purposes, including the manufacture of bricks, ovens, pots, and figurines. This heavy use of clays led to changes in the local environment that influenced human activity, as indicated in the first section of the volume. In the second section other examples of material technologies are considered, all of which in various ways engaged humans in specific dependencies and relationships. For example, large-scale studies of obsidian trade have drawn a complex picture of changing interactions among humans over time. The volume concludes with an integrated account of the uses of materials at Çatalhöyük based on the analysis of heavy residue samples from all contexts at the site.

544 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2013

About the author

Ian Hodder is Dunleavie Family Professor of Archaeology at Stanford University. A Fellow of the British Academy, he has received numerous awards for his accomplishments, including the Oscar Montelius Medal from the Swedish Society of Antiquaries, the Huxley Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Fyssen International Prize, and the Gold Medal by the Archaeological Institute of America, along with honorary doctorates from the Bristol and Leiden Universities. Hodder is the author of numerous books, including Symbols in Action (Cambridge, 1982), Reading the Past (Cambridge, 1982), and Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things (2012).

Reviews

[Julia Hendon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly reports on the analysis of various artifacts and features at the site of Catalhoyuk in Turkey. Lots of good data, not much interpretation.