Books by Christina Tsoraki
Communities at Work. The Making of Çatalhöyük, 2021
Hodder I., Tsoraki C. (eds), Communities at Work: The Making of Çatalhöyük. (Çatalhöyük Research Project Series 15). , 2021
Excavations at Çatalhöyük represent one of the most extensive, detailed and long-standing work at... more Excavations at Çatalhöyük represent one of the most extensive, detailed and long-standing work at any Neolithic settlement in the world. It was James Mellaart who first investigated the site between 1961 and 1965, then the excavations were continued by Ian Hodder from 1993 to 2017. Both Mellaart and Hodder were ahead of their respective times in the history of science.
Their works at the site fully reflect important changes in archaeology (which occurred over the last several decades) in regard to perspectives, theories, and techniques. In fact, major discrepancies between the methodological and theoretical approaches of Mellaart and Hodder have made comparing the archives of both projects unusually challenging. Mellaart led rapid, large area excavations, employing teams of local workmen and a couple of field supervisors. This was a traditional excavation strategy that favoured discovery of remnants of many buildings, elaborate wall paintings, and large artefacts. Under Hodder, excavations were also extensive, but employed an international team of archaeologists as well as detailed recording techniques and scientific methods of modern archaeology. The main aim of this 25-year-long project was to situate the elaborate symbolic production at the site within its full environmental, economic and social context. However, over the years, the research focus has been switched from individual buildings to social geography of the settlement as a whole and larger community structure, including neighbourhoods and lineage groups. Consequently, more attention was paid to relationships between contemporary buildings and open spaces. An impulse for this switch in research was given by an advanced programme on chronology which combined substantial numbers of radiocarbon dates with the site stratigraphy using formal Bayesian statistical modelling.
Hodder excavations were published in detail in a series of monographs. Much discussion on the layout of the settlement and its organisation is, however, still based on the schematic ‘level’ plans published in the 1960s. The reexamination of the remnants of several contemporary structures within one of the 1960s trenches (former Mellaart A and B and present GDN Area) at Çatalhöyük East Mound provided an opportunity to bring archives of Mellaart and Hodder projects together a d to illustrate potential implications for uncritical use of archive data.
The GDN research incorporates results from Mellaart archive’s queries, as well as recent excavations, building archaeology research, and the laboratory analysis of various artefacts and materials found during the investigations. The intraprofessional collaboration and the integration of diversified data within their context allows to challenge some previous interpretations and shed new light on issues of cooperation, coresidence and standardization/specialization in regard to late and final phases of occupation. Additionally, the chapter addresses new research questions to be considered in further excavations at the site.
Hodder I., Tsoraki C. (eds), Communities at Work: The Making of Çatalhöyük. (Çatalhöyük Research Project series 15)., 2021
Çatalhöyük East (ca. 7100 – 5950 cal. BC) is one of the archaeological sites that represents an a... more Çatalhöyük East (ca. 7100 – 5950 cal. BC) is one of the archaeological sites that represents an agglutinative settlement tradition which developed in southwest Asia and Central Anatolia at the turn of the 9th and 8th millennia BC. The clusters of mudbrick buildings form an outstanding settlement type of the Late Neolithic, characterised by their often streetless neighbourhoods, flat-roofed dwellings with roof access, as well as presence of a large assemblage of internal features. Traditional earthen construction has been a technological choice in the region for thousands of years arguably because its good hygro-thermal properties are well suited to local semi-arid/steppe climate and available earthen materials and water. Architecture at Çatalhöyük, like many other types of vernacular architecture, was influenced by a wide range of different aspects of human behaviour. This research examines how this architecture shaped and was shaped by the communities at Çatalhöyük and which local and non-local resources and technologies were selected and developed in mudbrick manufacture, plastering, creation of walls and features and places and abodes within the settlement. This research also examines how people at the site embodied abstract concepts, beliefs and ideas about themselves and their worlds in permanent forms. In fact, Çatalhöyük architecture may appear very conservative as there are house types representing a highly restricted distribution of activity areas and features according to a clear spatial order. However, the great longevity of the settlement allowed for substantial architectural experimentation and experience acquisition based on the dynamics between needs and means, which this research examines.
Ground stone technologies received attention from the early stages of the Çatalhöyük Research Pro... more Ground stone technologies received attention from the early stages of the Çatalhöyük Research Project (ÇRP) (Wright 2005; Baysal 2009; Wright, Baysal 2012; Wright 2013; 2014). The final phase of research on the ground stone assemblage unearthed during the ÇRP excavations aimed to improve our understanding of food and craft technologies and the social practices surrounding the use and discard of ground stone artefacts at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Among the issues investigated were the organisation of stone production, the scale of subsistence activities and the structuring principles of different depositional practices.
Book of Abstracts for the first meeting of the Association of Archaeological Wear & Residue Analy... more Book of Abstracts for the first meeting of the Association of Archaeological Wear & Residue Analysts (AWRANA) held at Leiden University, the Netherlands, on 27-30 May, 2015. Includes attached Erratum.
Papers by Christina Tsoraki
Quaternary International, 2018
The site of Jiahu in the central plain of China is known for its early rice cultivation 9000 year... more The site of Jiahu in the central plain of China is known for its early rice cultivation 9000 years ago. The preliminary starch analysis implies that the Jiahu grinding tools were used for processing various plants, including rice. This paper presents the use-wear analysis carried out on a sample of seventeen grinding tools from Jiahu, nine of which were previously analyzed for the presence of starch. Use-wear traces associated with processing cereal and wood-like material were identified. This result confirms important evidence of cereal processing in the early Neolithic period. It also reveals the diversity of functions in the grinding tool assemblage. Furthermore, the use-wear distribution indicates that grinding slabs without feet and cylindrical rollers were mainly associated with the processing of cereals while grinding slabs with feet were mainly related to the processing of wood-like material. Quantitative analysis of the starch data also indicates that grinding slabs without feet possess more starch grains than the grinding slabs with feet. Therefore, it is argued that specific types of grinding tools were used for processing specific kinds of material. This study highlights the different roles grinding tools may have played in early farming societies.
European Journal of Archaeology
The appearance of Beaker pottery in Britain and Ireland during the twenty-fifth century bc marks ... more The appearance of Beaker pottery in Britain and Ireland during the twenty-fifth century bc marks a significant archaeological horizon, being synchronous with the first metal artefacts. The adoption of arsenical copper, mostly from Ireland, was followed by that of tin-bronze around 2200 bc. However, whilst the copper mine of Ross Island in Ireland is securely dated to the Early Bronze Age, and further such mines in the UK have been dated to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, the evidence for the exploitation of tin ores, the other key ingredient to make bronze, has remained circumstantial. This article contains the detailed analyses of seven stone artefacts from securely dated contexts, using a combination of surface pXRF and microwear analysis. The results provide strong evidence that the tools were used in cassiterite processing. The combined analysis of these artefacts documents in detail the exploitation of Cornish tin during this early phase of metal use in Britain and Ireland.
European Journal of Archaeology, 2022
The appearance of Beaker pottery in Britain and Ireland during the twenty-fifth century BC marks ... more The appearance of Beaker pottery in Britain and Ireland during the twenty-fifth century BC marks a significant archaeological horizon, being synchronous with the first metal artefacts. The adoption of arsenical copper, mostly from Ireland, was followed by that of tin-bronze around 2200 BC. However, whilst the copper mine of Ross Island in Ireland is securely dated to the Early Bronze Age, and further such mines in the UK have been dated to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, the evidence for the exploitation of tin ores, the other key ingredient to make bronze, has remained circumstantial. This article contains the detailed analyses of seven stone artefacts from securely dated contexts, using a combination of surface pXRF and microwear analysis. The results provide strong evidence that the tools were used in cassiterite processing. The combined analysis of these artefacts documents in detail the exploitation of Cornish tin during this early phase of metal use in Britain and Ireland.
Since 2007, the Belgian School at Athens has undertaken excavations on the Kefali or Buffo hill, ... more Since 2007, the Belgian School at Athens has undertaken excavations on the Kefali or Buffo hill, east of the village of Sissi, on the north coast of Crete where a Minoan site was occupied approximately between 2500 and 1200 BC. This volume is the follow-up of an earlier one on the 2007-2008 excavations (published as Aegis 1) and presents a preliminary report on the excavations carried out in 2009 and 2010. It concentrates on the different zones examined within the cemetery and settlement. There are also reports on the Late Minoan pottery, site conservation and environmental analysis as well as a paper on the use of GIS at Sissi
Since 2007, the Belgian School at Athens has undertaken excavations on the Kefali or Buffo hill, ... more Since 2007, the Belgian School at Athens has undertaken excavations on the Kefali or Buffo hill, east of the village of Sissi, on the north coast of Crete where a Minoan site was occupied approximately between 2500 and 1200 BC. This volume is the follow-up of an earlier one on the 2007-2008 excavations (published as Aegis 1) and presents a preliminary report on the excavations carried out in 2009 and 2010. It concentrates on the different zones examined within the cemetery and settlement. There are also reports on the Late Minoan pottery, site conservation and environmental analysis as well as a paper on the use of GIS at Sissi
Lithic Studies: Anatolia and Beyond, 2022
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2020
Flint and Stone in the Neolithic Period, 2011
PLOS ONE, 2021
Çatalhöyük is a renowned archaeological site in central Anatolia, best known for its Neolithic oc... more Çatalhöyük is a renowned archaeological site in central Anatolia, best known for its Neolithic occupation dated from 7100 to 6000 cal BC. The site received worldwide attention early on for its large size, well-preserved mudbrick architecture, and elaborate wall paintings. Excavations at the site over almost three decades have unearthed rich archaeobotanical remains and a diverse ground stone assemblage produced by what once was a vibrant farming community. The study presented here adds to our understanding of crops and plant processing at Çatalhöyük by integrating phytoliths and starch analyses on grinding implements found at three domestic contexts attributed to the Middle (6700–6500 cal BC) and Late (6500–6300 cal BC) period of occupation. Our results reveal a rich microbotanical assemblage that testifies the use of a wide range of geophytes and wild seasonal resources previously unknown at the site. Moreover, by comparing results from the microbotanical proxies and microscopic we...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019
Three apparently modified human teeth found in various contexts at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey ... more Three apparently modified human teeth found in various contexts at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey Radiographic and microscopic analyses confirm intentional modification and extensive usewear in two of the three teeth. Third tooth is less clear. Two of the three teeth investigated represent first documented examples of artificially modified human teeth in prehistoric Near East These two teeth were manufactured using the same technical skills/toolkits used to produce other bead types at Çatalhöyük Confirmed cases derive from non-burial contexts.
Quaternary International, 2018
The site of Jiahu in the central plain of China is known for its early rice cultivation 9000 year... more The site of Jiahu in the central plain of China is known for its early rice cultivation 9000 years ago. The preliminary starch analysis implies that the Jiahu grinding tools were used for processing various plants, including rice. This paper presents the use-wear analysis carried out on a sample of seventeen grinding tools from Jiahu, nine of which were previously analyzed for the presence of starch. Use-wear traces associated with processing cereal and wood-like material were identified. This result confirms important evidence of cereal processing in the early Neolithic period. It also reveals the diversity of functions in the grinding tool assemblage. Furthermore, the use-wear distribution indicates that grinding slabs without feet and cylindrical rollers were mainly associated with the processing of cereals while grinding slabs with feet were mainly related to the processing of wood-like material. Quantitative analysis of the starch data also indicates that grinding slabs without feet possess more starch grains than the grinding slabs with feet. Therefore, it is argued that specific types of grinding tools were used for processing specific kinds of material. This study highlights the different roles grinding tools may have played in early farming societies.
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Books by Christina Tsoraki
Their works at the site fully reflect important changes in archaeology (which occurred over the last several decades) in regard to perspectives, theories, and techniques. In fact, major discrepancies between the methodological and theoretical approaches of Mellaart and Hodder have made comparing the archives of both projects unusually challenging. Mellaart led rapid, large area excavations, employing teams of local workmen and a couple of field supervisors. This was a traditional excavation strategy that favoured discovery of remnants of many buildings, elaborate wall paintings, and large artefacts. Under Hodder, excavations were also extensive, but employed an international team of archaeologists as well as detailed recording techniques and scientific methods of modern archaeology. The main aim of this 25-year-long project was to situate the elaborate symbolic production at the site within its full environmental, economic and social context. However, over the years, the research focus has been switched from individual buildings to social geography of the settlement as a whole and larger community structure, including neighbourhoods and lineage groups. Consequently, more attention was paid to relationships between contemporary buildings and open spaces. An impulse for this switch in research was given by an advanced programme on chronology which combined substantial numbers of radiocarbon dates with the site stratigraphy using formal Bayesian statistical modelling.
Hodder excavations were published in detail in a series of monographs. Much discussion on the layout of the settlement and its organisation is, however, still based on the schematic ‘level’ plans published in the 1960s. The reexamination of the remnants of several contemporary structures within one of the 1960s trenches (former Mellaart A and B and present GDN Area) at Çatalhöyük East Mound provided an opportunity to bring archives of Mellaart and Hodder projects together a d to illustrate potential implications for uncritical use of archive data.
The GDN research incorporates results from Mellaart archive’s queries, as well as recent excavations, building archaeology research, and the laboratory analysis of various artefacts and materials found during the investigations. The intraprofessional collaboration and the integration of diversified data within their context allows to challenge some previous interpretations and shed new light on issues of cooperation, coresidence and standardization/specialization in regard to late and final phases of occupation. Additionally, the chapter addresses new research questions to be considered in further excavations at the site.
Papers by Christina Tsoraki
Their works at the site fully reflect important changes in archaeology (which occurred over the last several decades) in regard to perspectives, theories, and techniques. In fact, major discrepancies between the methodological and theoretical approaches of Mellaart and Hodder have made comparing the archives of both projects unusually challenging. Mellaart led rapid, large area excavations, employing teams of local workmen and a couple of field supervisors. This was a traditional excavation strategy that favoured discovery of remnants of many buildings, elaborate wall paintings, and large artefacts. Under Hodder, excavations were also extensive, but employed an international team of archaeologists as well as detailed recording techniques and scientific methods of modern archaeology. The main aim of this 25-year-long project was to situate the elaborate symbolic production at the site within its full environmental, economic and social context. However, over the years, the research focus has been switched from individual buildings to social geography of the settlement as a whole and larger community structure, including neighbourhoods and lineage groups. Consequently, more attention was paid to relationships between contemporary buildings and open spaces. An impulse for this switch in research was given by an advanced programme on chronology which combined substantial numbers of radiocarbon dates with the site stratigraphy using formal Bayesian statistical modelling.
Hodder excavations were published in detail in a series of monographs. Much discussion on the layout of the settlement and its organisation is, however, still based on the schematic ‘level’ plans published in the 1960s. The reexamination of the remnants of several contemporary structures within one of the 1960s trenches (former Mellaart A and B and present GDN Area) at Çatalhöyük East Mound provided an opportunity to bring archives of Mellaart and Hodder projects together a d to illustrate potential implications for uncritical use of archive data.
The GDN research incorporates results from Mellaart archive’s queries, as well as recent excavations, building archaeology research, and the laboratory analysis of various artefacts and materials found during the investigations. The intraprofessional collaboration and the integration of diversified data within their context allows to challenge some previous interpretations and shed new light on issues of cooperation, coresidence and standardization/specialization in regard to late and final phases of occupation. Additionally, the chapter addresses new research questions to be considered in further excavations at the site.
The paper will present a brief summary of the assemblage before discussing the patterns of deposition of the stone vases from some of the contexts where excavation has been completed, more specifically comparing burial buildings, such as House Tomb 2, with open spaces, such as Votive Deposit 1. Questions of technology and form, destruction and preservation patterns and their ultimate relationship to social practices will be briefly investigated.
This experimental appending of stratigraphic temporal data onto the spatial data is an unusual and innovative way to articulate space in time. Through the study and analysis of the material culture in relation to its spatiotemporal context we hope to gain some insight into the social identity of the building’s residents throughout the life cycle of the structure. We use spatiotemporal animations to present the results of this collaborative study as a type of ‘visual biography’, more dynamic and nuanced than conventional phasing, that might be used to underpin and illustrate a social narrative of the building.
Detailed technological and contextual analysis of the Makriyalos ground stone assemblage has highlighted two conditions that point towards acts of deliberate destruction: fragmentation and burning. More importantly these two aspects of destruction are associated with different object categories that carried very distinct biographies: fragmentation with grinding tools and burning with stone axes and adzes. The deliberate destruction of artefacts was therefore a practice that invoked different means of destruction according to the activities these tools were used for, the meanings attached to their use and the way(s) the tools were perceived by the inhabitants of Makriyalos. In the case of grinding tools the idea of fragmentation as a process of transformation is extremely well linked with their everyday use as grinding tools represent an important technology with transformative properties, that were embedded in the everyday life of the Makriyalos community and actively employed for the transformation of different materials into valued objects and substances. Thus, as I will argue in this paper, the underlying principles of destruction need to be understood in relation to the social practices and the particular contexts of practice (i.e. domestic vs. communal, daily vs. feasting events) the different object categories formed integral part of.
Moreover, rocks and minerals in many pre-industrial cultures around the world are regarded as particularly powerful substances and the perception of their qualities and their appropriate use is shaped by a wide range of cultural ideas about gendered associations, age and cosmology. The selection of rocks for the production of different object categories is a process inextricably bound to the different ways in which societies conceive elements of the physical world and hence each society may have its own principles of categorization. Thus one of the wider issues raised in this paper is the nature and effect of our analytical categories on our understanding of the past. This paper will argue for the need to situate the meaning and significance of rock selection within a broader conception of the qualities of materials. This will provide insight into how the perception and categorisation of stone and other materials amongst Neolithic communities was created through their engagement with them
Drawing upon the concepts of the chaîne opératoire and object biographies my doctoral thesis investigated ground stone technology (i.e. a technology in which abrasion plays a prominent role) as a social practice focusing on the life-cycle of artefacts from raw material selection to final deposition. The underlying premise was that a contextual approach can contribute to our understanding of how the production, consumption and discard of ground stone artefacts were structured within different forms and scales of social practice. Detailed analysis of production sequences, consumption practices and deliberate destruction (through burning or fragmentation) allowed for a reconsideration of significant questions regarding the value of different material categories for Neolithic societies. Through systematic technological and spatial analysis of ‘social/prestige objects’ (e.g., ornaments, mace-heads, stone vases) and frequently assumed utilitarian objects (e.g., axes and grinding tools) I clearly demonstrated that ultimately the value and symbolic significance of objects were derived not only through investment in their production or their visual appearance, but also through their use within daily activities.
The analysis of the chaîne opératoire of the Makriyalos ground stone assemblage revealed diverse technological choices expressed throughout the cycle of production and use. Established traditions existed according to which specific materials were considered to be appropriate for the production of different objects. Furthermore, detailed analysis suggests that the resulting objects were far from mundane artefacts but were instead active media for expressing choices informed by cultural understandings of appropriateness.
Building upon analysis of the chaîne opératoire, spatial analysis of the Makriyalos assemblage indicated distinct depositional patterns of different categories of ground stone within and between the two habitation phases of Makriyalos. This analysis offers significant insights into the way(s) these implements were incorporated into the social life of Makriyalos. Ultimately, the thesis demonstrates that ground stone artefacts were actively employed in the creation and negotiation of varied and distinct identities (individual vs. communal) that could be transformed through different contexts of practice.
The aim of this session is to consider how to integrate different approaches to Neolithic houses and households, in order to investigate the diversity of ways in which communities related to their domestic architecture. It arises from the session who lived in longhouses?, held at EAA 2014, which focused on the longhouse architecture of the central European Danubian Neolithic. A variety of papers, combining bioarchaeological evidence with studies of the architecture itself, as well as the artefactual and faunal remains found alongside the houses, provided new insights into the organisation of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) houses. However, it became clear during the session that two key problems warrant further discussion: 1) what significance variability between households had for LBK and post-LBK communities, and, 2) how material remains relate to the practices from which they arose. Therefore, this session draws on the application of combined approaches to Neolithic domestic architectures across a much wider area, to compare and contrast the different material practices associated with Neolithic houses, and the effects that different degrees of preservation have on our interpretations of those practices. We invite papers which consider variability in the architecture of the Neolithic on varied scales, both within and between settlements of one region or culture, as well as those comparing and contrasting houses and households between different geographic regions. We encourage authors to address a specific range of questions: do different subsistence strategies and material remains indicate varied social groupings or can we understand variation in other ways? To what extent can we identify competition and co-operation between households? How confidently can we identify the practices associated with houses? To what extent did those practices shape emerging Neolithic societies? Beyond hierarchy, what are the other salient factors and scales for investigating differentiation?
An overview of archaeological and anthropological literature highlights the symbolic potency of materials and suggests that — across different cultures — materials such as clay and stone are seen as culturally-powerful substances ascribed with qualities that Western perspectives bestow only upon humans/animals. This body of work emphasizes, inter alia, the highly variable culturally-mediated conceptualizations of the materials and their qualities, conceptualizations that create a complex web of classifications, associations, proscriptions and prescriptions and have a profound effect on the way people engage with their worlds.
Our goal in organising this Round Table is to seek new ways of addressing the material worlds of the Aegean. We would like to consider how material properties were experienced in the Aegean world; how these had an effect on the creation of value for particular objects and materials; and how meaningful materials arise. Further, it is our intention to move away from the traditional media-based categories that have structured Aegean research thus far, and so move discussion to a consideration of the inter-relationship between materials and an exploration of how material categories may have been constructed in particular social, chronological and spatial contexts."