Assembling Çatalhöyük

Discussing the experience of the multiscapalar and multifaceted research process at the Neolithic settlement in Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolian is the main aim of Assembling Çatalhöyük (2015) edited by Ian Hodder and Arkadiusz Marciniak. The book shows how to build a robust argument that expands the understanding of different aspects of Çatalhöyük and its people. The chapters attempt to explore to what extent a proposed hypothesis is consistent with all the lines of evidence that are constructed using diverse sources. Disparate datasets are then seen as converging to allow for a highly contextualized analysis of different facets of these groups, which are weaved from multiple threads of biological and social data at the same time. The volume shows that it is possible to find greatest resolution in our understanding of these aspects when we consider multi-disciplinary evidence and approaches from the archaeological record. In more general context, it attempts to make the creation and presentation of archaeological knowledge explicit.

This volume thus has a number of purposes. At one level it reports on the exciting new discoveries and advances that are being made in the understanding of the 9000-year-old Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. The chapters assemble data from cultural, social, biological and environmental realms in order to deal with key issues in the growth of the large agricultural village at Çatalhöyük and its transformation over time. At another level, the volume reports on methodological advances that have been made by team members, including the development of reflexive methods, paperless recording on site, the integrated use of 3D visualisation, and interpretive archives. The long-term nature of the project allows these various innovations to be evaluated and critiqued. In particular, the volume includes analyses of the social networks that underpin the assembling of data, and documents the complex ways in which arguments are built within quickly transforming alliances and allegiances within the team.