A history of agricultural production at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey

Abstract

A history of agricultural production is proposed for Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, central Turkey, using archaeobotanical, environmental, population and settlement studies. In the aceramic early phase of site occupation, intensive strategies developed as changes in population and environment caused stress on food supplies produced within a limited territory. Food exchange may have been part of the social means by which Çatalhöyük and nearby contemporary settlements amalgamated into the single site of the main occupation phase. Population change, inherited territories and continuing environmental impact led to the development of an extensive system of agriculture using widely dispersed dry soils, with an intensive regime applied to nearby alluvial soils. Social tensions caused by the evolution of this system contributed to the fissioning of the site by the Chalcolithic.

Keywords:

• Çatalhöyük
• Neolithic
• Turkey
• agriculture

Acknowledgements

The ideas expressed in this paper evolved from discussions with several colleagues in the Çatalhöyük Research Project (ÇRP). I thank Christine Hastorf and Ian Hodder for involving me in the project and ÇRP authors for permission to cite papers in press. Research was funded by the ÇRP, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Inc. and the British Institute of Archaeology in Ankara (BIAA). ANU Cartography produced Figure 2.

Notes

Biographical Notes

Andrew Fairbairn trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (BSc Archaeology 1991, MSc Bio and Geoarchaeology 1992, PhD Archaeology 2001). Specializing in archaeobotany, he has worked in commercial and research projects in the UK, Europe, south-west Asia and Oceania. His interests include integration of social theory into environmental archaeology, palaeoeconomy and environment in Central Anatolia and development of arboriculture in Oceania. From 1999 to 2001 he was a member of the Çatalhöyük Research Project. Current research is focused on Kaman-Kalehöyük and Pınarbaşı in Central Anatolia and numerous sites in Oceania. He is a research fellow at the Australian National University.

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Notes on contributors

Andrew Fairbairn

Biographical Notes Andrew Fairbairn trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (BSc Archaeology 1991, MSc Bio and Geoarchaeology 1992, PhD Archaeology 2001). Specializing in archaeobotany, he has worked in commercial and research projects in the UK, Europe, south-west Asia and Oceania. His interests include integration of social theory into environmental archaeology, palaeoeconomy and environment in Central Anatolia and development of arboriculture in Oceania. From 1999 to 2001 he was a member of the Çatalhöyük Research Project. Current research is focused on Kaman-Kalehöyük and Pınarbaşı in Central Anatolia and numerous sites in Oceania. He is a research fellow at the Australian National University.