Proceedings of the 10th International Congress

on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Volume 2

ICAANE 10, Vol 2.indd Abs11 20.02.2018 14:39:26

 Proceedings
of the 10th International Congress
on the Archaeology
of the Ancient Near East
25–29 April 2016,
Vienna

Edited by
Barbara Horejs, Christoph Schwall, Vera Müller,
Marta Luciani, Markus Ritter, Mattia Giudetti,
Roderick B. Salisbury, Felix Höflmayer
and Teresa Bürge

2018
Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden

ICAANE 10, Vol 2.indd Abs12 20.02.2018 14:39:30

 Proceedings
of the 10th International Congress
on the Archaeology
of the Ancient Near East
Volume 2

Prehistoric and Historical Landscapes

& Settlement Patterns
Edited by Roderick B. Salisbury

Economy & Society

Edited by Felix Höflmayer

Excavation Reports & Summaries

Edited by Teresa Bürge

2018
Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden

ICAANE 10, Vol 2.indd Abs13 20.02.2018 14:39:30

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ICAANE 10, Vol 2.indd Abs14 20.02.2018 14:39:30

 Contents 5

Contents

PREHISTORIC AND HISTORICAL LANDSCAPES & SETTLEMENT

PATTERNS
(edited by R. Salisbury)

R. Koliński
An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Greater Zab Area of the
Iraqi Kurdistan (UGZAR) 2012–2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

J. S. Baldi
Chalcolithic Settlements and Ceramics in the Rania Plain and Beyond:
Some Results of the French Archaeological Mission at the Governorate
of Sulaymaniyah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
R. Brancato
Settlement Patterns in the Upper Tigris River Region between the
4th and 1st Millennia BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

J. Ferguson
Across Space and Time: Results of the Wadi ath-Thamad Project
Regional Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

C. Coppini
The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project: Preliminary Results
from the Analysis of the Second Millennium BC Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

C. Verdellet
The Foothill of Zagros during the Bronze Age:
SGAS Preliminary Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

J.-J. Herr
Neo-Assyrian Settlements in Rania, Peshdar and Bngird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

M. Labbaf-Khaniki
Long Wall of Asia: The Backbone of Asian Defensive Landscape . . . . . . . 113
C. del Cerro Linares
Landscape and Settlement Patterns on the Al Madam Plain (Sharjah, EAU)
during the Iron Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

C. Castel – G. Mouamar
Third Millenium BC Cities in the Arid Zone of Inner Syria:
Settlement Landscape, Material Culture and Interregional Interactions . . . 137

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 6 Contents

S. A. Shobairi
Beyond the Palace: Some Perspective on Agriculture and Irrigation
System in the Achaemenid Heartland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

S. Döpper – C. Schmidt
Settlement Continuity and Discontinuity in Northern Central-Oman . . . . . 163

J. Budka
The Urban Landscape of Upper Nubia (Northern Sudan) in the
Second Millennium BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

A. Politopoulos
Creating Imperial Capitals: From Aššur to Kār-Tukultī-Ninurta . . . . . . . . 191

Y. Kanhoush
Tell Mishrifeh-Qatna (Syria), Area T: First Approach to a
Middle Bronze Age Residential Area in the Upper Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

M. Sharifi
Archaeological Excavations and Studies in the Zard River Basin
Ramhormoz, Khuzestan, Iran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

D. D. Boyer
Landscape Archaeology in the Jarash Valley in Northern Jordan:
A Preliminary Analysis of Human Interaction in the Prehistoric and
Historic Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

ECONOMY & SOCIETY

(edited by F. Höflmayer)

T. Adachi – S. Fujii
Shell Ornaments from the Bishri Cairn Fields: New Insights into the
Middle Bronze Age Trade Network in Central Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

J. S. Baldi
Between Specialized Productions and Hierarchical Social Organizations:
New Data from Upper Mesopotamia and the Northern Levant . . . . . . . . . 247

T. Bürge – P. M. Fischer
Ivory at the Transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age in
Transjordan: Trade and Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

S. Caramello
Physicians on the Move! The Role of Medicine in the
Late Bronze Age International Gift Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

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 Contents 7
E. Casadei
Linking the River and the Desert: The Early Bronze Age I Pottery
Assemblage of the Wadi Zarqa Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

P. Charvát
Oriental Subtleties: Counter-marking of Archaic Ur Seals Again . . . . . . . . 303

A. C. Felici – A. Fusaro – A. Ibrahim – K. Lashari – N. Manassero –

M. Piacentini – V. Piacentini Fiorani – A. Tilia
Banbhore, a Major Trade Centre on the Indus’ Delta: Notes on the
Pakistani-Italian Excavations and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

A. García-Suárez
Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built Environments
at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

T. B. H. Helms
Fortress Communities of the 3rd Millennium BCE: The Example of
Tell Chuera, NE Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

L. Hulin – S. German
Up from the Sea: Mariner Networks in Ports across the
Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

F. Marchand
Use-wear Analysis of Bronze Age Lithics in Tell Arqa
(Akkar Plain, North Lebanon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

R. Matthews – A. Richardson – O. Maeda

‘Behind all those Stones’: Activity and Society in the Pre-Pottery
Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

V. Oselini
The Cultural Influence of Mesopotamian States in the Upper and Middle
Course of the Diyala River during the Mid-2nd Millennium BC . . . . . . . . . 391

W. J. Reade – K. L. Privat
Glass Vessels from Hellenistic Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates, Syria:
An Indicator of Greek Influence in the East? Questions of Production . . . 405

G. Tucci
Workshops in the Southern Levant: The Case of Jewellers during
the Late Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

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 8 Contents

M. Yamafuji
Subsistence Systems in a Semi-Arid Zone: Late Early Bronze Age (EBA)
Self-Sustenance of the Copper Production Centre in Faynan Region,
Southern Jordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

EXCAVATION REPORTS & SUMMARIES

(edited by T. Bürge)

D. Al Yaqoobi – M. Shepperson – J. MacGinnis

Excavations on the Fortifications of the Citadel of Erbil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

V. W. Avrutis
Southern Levantine Interregional Interactions as Reflected by
the Finds from an Early Bronze Age I Burial Ground at
Nesher-Ramla Quarry (el-Hirbe), Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
A. Chaaya
Results of the First Season of Excavation at the
Medieval Castle of Gbail/Byblos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
A. D’Agostino – V. Orsi
The 2013–2015 Excavation Seasons at Uşaklı Höyük
(Central Turkey) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
I. Gagoshidze – E. Rova
2013–2015 Activities of the Georgian-Italian Shida Kartli
Archaeological Project at Aradetis Orgora (Georgia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
A. Golani – S. R. Wolff
The Late Bronze I and Iron Age I Remains at Tel Dover in the
Jordan Valley, Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

V. R. Herrmann – D. Schloen
Zincirli Höyük, Ancient Sam’al: A Preliminary Report on the
2015 Excavation Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

M. Işıklı
A Pioneer Site in Urartian Archaeology: Rusahinili Eiduru-kai. A summary
of twenty-five years of excavations at Ayanis castle in Van, Turkey . . . . . . 535

H. Koubková – Z. Wygnańska
Early Third Millennium BC Settlement in the Western Khabur Basin:
Preliminary Results of the Pottery Analysis from the
Khabur Basin Project Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

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 Contents 9
M. Makinson – Z. Wygnańska
A Spatial and Functional Analysis of ‘Building 4’ at
EBA III Tell Fadous-Kfarabida (Lebanon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

M. Malekzadeh – A. Hasanpour – Z. Hashemi

Bronzes of Luristan in a Non-funerary Context: Sangtarashan,
an Iron Age Site in Luristan (Iran) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

A. Polcaro – J. R. Muñiz
Dolmen 534: A Megalithic Tomb of the Early Bronze Age II in
Jebel al-Mutawwaq, Jordan: Preliminary results of the
2014 Spanish-Italian expedition in Area C South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

G. Russo
The Iron Age Pottery from Tell Mishrifeh (Qaṭna):
Preliminary Results from the German-Syrian Excavations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601

T. E. Şerifoğlu – N. MacSweeney – C. Colantoni

Before the Flood: The Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage
Survey Project: The results of three seasons of survey in
the Göksu river valley of Mersin Province, Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

K. Shimogama
The Japanese Excavations at Tell Ali al-Hajj, Rumeilah, on the Euphrates:
Settlement, Material Culture and Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

T. B. B. Skuldbøl – C. Colantoni
Culture Contact and Early Urban Development in Mesopotamia:
Is Garbage the Key to Understanding the ‘Uruk Expansion’ in the
Zagros Foothills of Northeastern Iraq? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

A. Tenu
Excavations at Kunara (Iraqi Kurdistan): New Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

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 10 Contents

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 Preface 13

Foreword to the 10th ICAANE Proceedings

The 10th anniversary of the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient
Near East was held from 25th to 29th of April 2016 in Vienna, hosted and organized by
the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA) of the Austrian Acad-
emy of Sciences. More than 800 participants from 38 different countries found their
way to Vienna to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ICAANE with a wide range of
8 scientific sections, 28 workshops and round tables, a huge poster exhibition and a
special section about ‘Cultural Heritage under Threat’.
The topics in focus of this ICAANE covered traditional, as well as new fields,
in relation to state-of-the-art approaches and methodologies. The general themes of
transformation and migration, cultural landscapes, religion and rituals, environmen-
tal shifts, contextualized images, as well as economies and societies, are currently
promising fields in archaeology and these proceedings give new insights into former
Near Eastern societies. These general questions are obviously challenging topics in
present times, too, a fact that is leading us archaeologists into a dialectic discourse of
past and present social phenomena. This additional impact within our scientific com-
munity and beyond is underlining the ongoing fascination and power of Near East-
ern archaeology. The first volume includes papers of the sections ‘Transformation
and Migration‘, ‘Archaeology of Religion and Ritual’,‘Images in Context’ as well
as ‘Islamic Archaeology’. The second volume is dedicated to the sections ‘Prehis-
toric and Historical Landscapes and Settlement Patterns’, ‘Economy and Society’,
and is completed by ‘Excavation Reports and Summaries’. A number of presented
posters are integrated in the theme relevant chapters too. I would like to express my
sincere thanks to the editors of these sections, namely Teresa Bürge, Mattia Guidetti,
Felix Höflmayer, Marta Luciani, Vera Müller, Markus Ritter, Roderick Salisbury and
Christoph Schwall.
Altogether 28 workshops focussing on special research questions and themes
demonstrated the ongoing dynamic and new inputs in Near Eastern archaeolo-
gy. The engaged discussions of internationally high-ranked experts with young
scholars was essential for the success and open atmosphere of the 10th ICAANE
in Vienna. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the workshop organisers,
who are also acting as editors for the separate workshop volumes, published as
internationally peer-reviewed books in the OREA series of the Austrian Academy
of Sciences, of which some are already in print, accepted or in preparation at the
moment. The conference was delighted to have two keynotes given by Mehmet
Özdoğan and Timothy Harrison; both pointed to the current political conflicts and
related massive destruction of cultural heritage from different perspectives. In fac-
ing the current conflicts and continuing damage of cultural monuments in regions
of the Near East, we are confronted with situations going far beyond the usual
scientific challenges. Although we have to observe highly frustrating ongoing de-
structions and can hardly influence the general political situation, the archaeological

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 14 Barbara Horejs

community is responsible for supporting, re-evaluating and advancing ongoing

essential strategies in digital preservation of the cultural heritage and other current
activities in that field.
Therefore, we decided to organize a Special Section within the 10th ICAANE
about Cultural Heritage under Threat, where well-known experts and political au-
thorities discussed the current challenges and future perspectives in a very fruitful
and open atmosphere.
This special section was organized with the great support of Harald Stranzl, the
Austrian Ambassador at UNESCO for the Austrian Ministry of Europe, Integra-
tion and Foreign Affairs. The discussions and contributions were accomplished by
signing the ‘Vienna Statement’ (s. below) by a total of 34 authorities for antiqui-
ties in Near Eastern countries, European institutions and stakeholders. My sincere
thanks are expressed to Karin Bartl and her engagement in organizing this special
section.
The 10th ICAANE aside its impact on international archaeology, can additionally
be seen as a powerful boost for the archaeological endeavours in Austria and for our
local scientific community, not at least visible in the fruitful cooperation of several
archaeological institutions acting committedly in our Local Organising Committee:
the Historical-Cultural Faculty and the Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies
(University of Vienna), the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection of the Kunsthis-
torische Museum, the Austrian Archaeological Institute, members of the Austrian
Academy of Sciences as well as the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology.
My sincere thanks go to Manfred Bietak, Vera Müller, Hermann Hunger, Bert Frag-
ner, Regina Hölzl, Claudia Theune-Vogt, Michael Doneus, Markus Ritter, Christiana
Köhler, Marta Luciani, Sabine Ladstätter, Karin Kopetzky and Angela Schwab for
their engagement in the local committee and making this conference real. I extend
sincere thanks for financial support to several Austrian and international institutions,
which are The Austrian Federal Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs,
the University of Vienna, the City of Vienna, the Vienna Science and Technology
Fund (WWTF), the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), the Austrian Orient
Society/Hammer Purgstall Society and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
The OREA institute took over the honourable duty hosting this conference with
lots of effort and energy, all our institutes’ members, students and scientists were
involved in some parts and the OREA team together was making this conference
running. Particular thanks and recognition also go to Angela Schwab, Ulrike Schuh
and Christine de Vree. Finally, I thank the ICAANE Scientific Committee and the
Harrassowitz Publishing House.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Horejs

Director of the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology
Austrian Academy of Sciences

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 ECONOMY & SOCIETY

edited by F. Höflmayer

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237_246 Adachi-Fujii.indd 238 06.02.2018 10:11:31
 Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built Environments 329

Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built

Environments at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Aroa García-Suárez  1

Abstract
The Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük (7100–5900 calBC) has long been recognised for its architec-
turally standardised mud brick houses, the large majority of which display a high degree of conformity
in the arrangement of their internal spaces. While the evidence from small-sized buildings, those under
approximately 9m² in size, is deemed important for our understanding of social systems at this site,
these structures have been insufficiently studied in the past. Assumed to be economically dependent
on larger houses, the possibility that these smaller buildings were individual households with greater
autonomy has not yet been critically examined.

This paper tackles the cultural role of these small-sized structures through the mi-
cromorphological study of the occupation sequences of two of these built environ-
ments. This detailed microscopic investigation of activities, intensity of occupation
and renewal, and both macro- and micro-remains of environmental resources pres-
ent in these building sequences has shed light on the socioeconomic status of these
structures. Results demonstrate the diversity and flexibility of domestic practices and
concepts of space at the site, with some small buildings being used for productive
activities while others display a high degree of architectural elaboration and intensity
of occupation. Consequently, this paper stresses the diversity in cultural and ecolog-
ical household practices during the Neolithic occupation of this site.

1. Introduction

Domestic built environments have been the focus of archaeological research for
several decades, partly due to the valuable information they provide on household
activities, family structure, and the changing use of space (Banning 2003; Watkins
2004; Souvatzi 2012). In the case of Neolithic communities in the Near East, inter-
pretations have often been articulated around the concept of households as the prin-
cipal elements of social organisation, each occupying discrete buildings that showed
a high degree of spatial standardisation (Byrd 2000).
The large Neolithic settlement at Çatalhöyük East, in the Konya Plain of
south-central Turkey, was one of these communities. This site, world renowned for
the outstanding preservation of its bioarchaeological assemblage and elaborate art,

1 Soil Research Centre, University of Reading.

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 330 Aroa García-Suárez

displays a highly agglomerated settlement pattern and distinctive mud brick archi-
tecture. Building interiors are characterised by a strict division of space that shows
remarkable continuity both throughout the settlement and over time, a uniformity that
has been interpreted as dictated by social regulations (Hodder and Cessford 2004).
This paper aims to draw attention to the multiple forms in which built environ-
ments occurred at Çatalhöyük by investigating formation processes and activities
in the insufficiently studied small-sized buildings (usually 9m² or less in size), the
investigation of which is vital to complete our understanding of socioeconomic dy-
namics at this settlement. The archaeological evidence from these buildings, usually
interpreted as annexes to larger buildings nearby and considered too small to have
functioned as independent units, has been widely overlooked in previous studies.
Assumed to be socially and economically dependent on larger houses, the possibility
that they could have hosted individual households with at least a certain degree of
autonomy has not been considered. The role of these small-sized buildings within
the settlement is still under question, with some arguing that they were the location
of specialised activities, and others interpreting them as Neolithic pied-à-terre, sea-
sonal residences for individuals who wanted to be part of the important community
at Çatalhöyük (Hodder, pers. comm.).
In this context, the main goals of this research are: 1) to develop a range of
high-resolution analytical approaches and methods for the documentation and mi-
croanalysis of the fine stratigraphic sequences that characterise building interiors at
Çatalhöyük, with focus on thin-section micromorphology, 2) to determine the type
and range of environmental resources and architectural floor materials present in
small-sized built environments at the microscale, 3) to investigate the intensity of
occupation and maintenance of small buildings, and 4) to explore the degree of so-
cioeconomic independence displayed in these buildings.
In spite of their unimpressive size and archaeology, small built environments are
deemed here to be an important source of information for understanding diversity in
cultural and ecological household practices during the Neolithic occupation of the site.

2. The case study

Çatalhöyük was discovered in the late 1950s and subsequently excavated by James
Mellaart between 1961 and 1965. Attempting to explain the variability in symbolic
elaboration displayed in buildings, he distinguished between two types of structures:
houses and shrines. The latter referred to buildings with large amounts of symbolic
features, such as wall paintings, bucrania, figurines and reliefs, implying that this
type of built environment primarily had a religious function (Mellaart 1967). This
categorisation has currently fallen into disuse as later evidence has demonstrated that
all the buildings were lived in, that is, they all show evidence of domestic occupa-
tion, as seen in the dense patterning of artefacts and the micro-remains analysed via
thin-section micromorphology (Matthews 2005b).

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 Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built Environments 331
In a site without streets, distinguishing buildings from one another can be a dif-
ficult task. At Çatalhöyük, space numbers are allocated to defined internal and ex-
ternal areas, and as such they can refer to rooms or courtyards. A building number
is allocated where more than one internal space can be demonstrated to belong to
one structure. That is, if there is more than one space beneath one roof (Farid and
Hodder 2013). This definition can be applied to the site of Çatalhöyük because party
walls were not used, although it means that all small built environments, normally
consisting of a single room, are commonly referred to as spaces, even when having
their own, independent walls.
Standard, larger buildings at this site display a high degree of conformity when it
comes to internal spatial divisions. They were accessed via the roof, and entered by
a ladder often located in the south of the construction, beneath which lay the fire in-
stallation, where cooking activities took place. Along the eastern and northern walls
was the clean area of the house, where platforms for sitting and sleeping dominated.
Burials were found beneath these platforms, accompanied by paintings, bucrania and
reliefs. Side rooms were accessed off the central room, providing storage areas, and
often containing fire installations (Cutting 2005).
Excavations at Çatalhöyük resumed in 1993, when an international team of ar-
chaeologists led by Ian Hodder started further investigations on site that entailed the
opening of new trenches, as well as the application of state-of-the-art analytical meth-
ods (Hodder and Ritchey 1996). One of the results of this work has been the identifi-
cation of four house types based on differences regarding size and both architectural
and symbolic elaboration (Hodder 2013: 1) Large/elaborate buildings, characterised
by an unusually large size and great architectural complexity, also involving the pres-
ence of wall paintings, reliefs or bucrania; 2) multiple burial buildings, identified by
having numerous individuals buried beneath the floors, often exceeding those expect-
ed of one domestic group and unlikely to have been provided solely by the occupants
of the house during its period of habitation; 3) history houses, architecturally elabo-
rate buildings with multiple burials that endured for generations and underwent nu-
merous rebuilding phases; and 4) other houses, comprising buildings displaying none
of the defining characteristic features of the other categories. This classification has
been used at Çatalhöyük as the basis for the exploration of social differentiation and
inequality, and the occurrence of corporate groups (Hodder and Pels 2010).

3. Results

The first case study analysed here is Space 470, located in the South Area of the site
with an approximate size of 7.5m². This structure, which does not appear to share
any party walls with the surrounding buildings, has been interpreted as the southern
annexe of the ‘history house’ Building 7, situated immediately to the north of it (Tay-
lor 2012). No evidence was found of any entrance into Space 470 in any of the walls
that defined its interior, as well as no traces of ladder emplacement.

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 332 Aroa García-Suárez

The occupation phase of Space 470 lacked common architectural features, as

only a bench and a beaten earth floor were recorded (Barański et al. 2015). Micro-
morphological analyses revealed that the occupation surface was made of a clay
loam sediment rich in charred inclusions of woods and grasses, with randomly dis-
persed plant remains found in association with sulphidic and ferruginous aggregates,
indicating localised organic decomposition under wet and reduced conditions (Mees
and Stoops 2010).
The heterogeneous nature of this deposit and the poor sorting of its components
point to a coarse, roughly made floor, in marked contrast with the fine plasters found
inside most buildings at Çatalhöyük (Matthews 2005a). On top of this surface, sev-
eral superimposed microlaminations of dung were identified. These were rich in
partially digested plant remains, undulating and highly compacted, which suggests
substantial animal trampling. This modest deposit of faecal matter points to its short-
lived use as an animal pen. Overlying this penning deposit was another thin floor
on top of which an extensive layer of well-preserved phytoliths was found. These
phytoliths were interpreted as dehusking waste from wheat and wild grasses (Ryan
2012), an activity that seems to have been performed regularly in this space, judging
from the compressed and highly laminated disposition of these plant remains.
Overall, it appears that Space 470 was used for activities that were mainly pasto-
ral and agricultural in nature. Therefore, this structure could well have functioned as
an annexe for one or several households in the neighbourhood.
The second case study, Space 87, is located in the North Area of Çatalhöyük. This
small built environment has a usable area of approximately 6m² and was partly exca-
vated in 2002 in its eastern end. The BACH (Berkeley Archaeologists at Çatalhöyük)
team, led by Tringham and Stevanović and working in the adjacent Building 3, ini-
tially interpreted this independent structure, alongside the smaller Spaces 88 and 89,
immediately to the east of Space 87, as annexes to the larger Building 3 (Stevanović
2012). When the excavation of this small space was resumed in 2012, however, it
became apparent that this structure was far more complex than expected, containing
over nine structural cuts and multiple architectural modifications during its lifetime.
The abandonment infill of this space was characterised by its heterogeneity, con-
taining large numbers of semi-articulated animal and human bones, frequently oc-
curring in clusters near the walls, and an adolescent male skeleton in full articulation,
whose head was missing. Re-deposited construction materials, such as oven linings,
mud bricks, wall plasters and fragments of mortar were all found in high frequencies
within this extremely compacted deposit.
The last occupational phase of Space 87 reproduces spatial boundaries and traces
of activity areas similar to those in most buildings excavated to date at Çatalhöyük,
in spite of its considerably smaller size. A central platform was found showing mul-
tiple layers of alluvial silty clay loam and white finishing coats, which were scru-
pulously maintained and covered with soft furnishings, judging from the absence of
accumulated dust. The eastern end of the building was occupied by a burial platform
displaying a sequence of six differentiated grey and white plaster floors. These two

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 Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built Environments 333
platforms show evidence of several structural modifications during their lifetimes,
which hints at the high intensity of occupation of this built environment. The western
half of Space 87 displayed a fine sequence of approximately eighteen oxidised allu-
vial silty clay floors, and thin grey marl plaster finishing coats. These surfaces appear
almost completely devoid of artefacts, and microscopic analyses have confirmed the
presence of trampled soot remains and mat impressions, the use of which undoubt-
edly helped in maintaining these plasters as clean. The raw materials used for the
manufacture of these surfaces appear to have been derived from local alluvial sourc-
es, similarly to other, larger buildings of this period. No hiatus in occupation was
detected during the microstratigraphic examination of this depositional sequence.
Three formal fire installations were found. The earliest one, an oven embedded
in the original north wall of the space, was eventually sealed and another adjacent
wall was erected, probably to reinforce the construction. A hearth then replaced the
oven, but was itself later dismantled in one of the several refurbishment episodes
that this space went through. The latest hearth, partly built on top of the previ-
ous one, was well-maintained, its floor made of high-quality silty clay tempered
with 20% grasses in order to resist high fire temperatures without cracking. The
floors around these fire installations, consisting of orange/brown mud plasters, ap-
pear very eroded, likely due to sweeping and hearth maintenance practices. Several
superimposed laminations of accumulated fuel rake-outs, of up to 3 cm thickness
in total, were found in this area of the space, suggesting continuous use of the fire
installations. Fuel sources consisted mostly of grasses and reeds, alongside local
woods, such as elm and juniper. Very little evidence was found of the use of herbi-
vore dung as fuel in this space.
The human remains formally buried in Space 87 consist mostly of newborn and
adult individuals (Hager and Boz 2012). Three burial pits were excavated; two un-
der the sequence of clean floors, along the southern wall, and a burial platform in
the eastern end, consisting of six differentiated burial events and twelve skeletons.
Symbolic features are represented by reliefs, niches, an engraved pedestal, and es-
pecially, panel paintings of red ochre along the east and south walls, and geometric
motifs of cinnabar in the same location.
Remarkably, this built environment shows most of the traits of a ‘special house’,
namely symbolic elaboration, high number of burials – eighteen individuals in total,
in contrast with the eleven found in the much larger Building 3 immediately to the
north of it – and intensive rates of occupation and renewal, with the exception of
size. The division of space found in larger buildings at Çatalhöyük is also found here,
albeit in a different arrangement: the kitchen area is against the north wall, whereas
decorative features such as reliefs and wall paintings are found on the south wall.
The burial platform is in the eastern end of the house, alongside with clean floor
plasters, which occupy the eastern half of the space and the area along the south wall.
Overall, it appears as if the inhabitants of this built environment had to accommodate
the maintenance of spatial and social conventions to the limits imposed by the size
and layout of this space.

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 334 Aroa García-Suárez

The single wall between Spaces 88 (storage room and activity area) and 87 and
the complex spatial configuration of the latter suggest that these two built environ-
ments may have comprised a single house: Building 114. Immediately to the south
and contemporaneous with it was Building 113, of which only the walls remain. The
dismantling of the remaining walls of Building 113 during excavation revealed the
existence of a communicating crawl hole between this structure and Space 87, as
seen in the cut and the white plaster patches still present on the northern face of the
south wall of Space 87. The early blocking of this crawl hole resulted in a painted
niche, as seen from the interior of Space 87, and probably marked the use of this
space as an, at least, moderately independent house, with finer plaster floors begin-
ning to be laid down, and developing decorative elaboration.

4. Conclusions

Building 114 is definitely an oddity within the settlement layout of Çatalhöyük, and
the preliminary results from this building make it tempting to speculate on the form
of the group of people associated with this built environment, especially given its
limited usable space for living and storing. There is a strong possibility that Building
114 was embedded in larger social associations in the form of corporate or neigh-
bourhood groups, as suggested by Düring and Marciniak (2006), especially due to
its earlier physical connection with Building 113 and the large number of buried
individuals. The average building size in Level VI, to which Building 114 apparent-
ly belongs, is the smallest for the whole length of the Çatalhöyük occupation, and
this period, around 6500 BCE, immediately precedes the demise of the clustered
neighbourhood at this settlement in Level V (Hodder and Farid 2013), a process to
which Building 114 was undoubtedly related.
What appears clear is that this building, comprising Spaces 87 and 88, probably
started its life as an annex of a larger house, likely Building 113, and later became a
more independent and complex structure showing abundant traces of domestic use
and continuous, intensive occupation, a transformation that highlights the diversity
and flexibility of domestic practices and concepts of space at this site.

Acknowledgements

This research has been possible thanks to generous funding from the Arts and
Humanities Research Council, the University of Reading, the Research Center for
Anatolian Civilizations of Koç University, and the British Institute at Ankara. Spe-
cial thanks go to field members of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, in particular
Burcu Tung, Matthew Britten, Marta Perlińska, Scott Haddow, Jędrzej Hordecki,
Arek Klimowicz, and Marek Barański, for their help during excavation and sam-
pling.

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 Re-evaluating the Socioeconomic Role of Small Built Environments 335
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