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Socialization and Feasting at Çatalhöyük: A Response to Adams

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ian Hodder*
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Building 110, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Abstract

This response to Adams’ comment regarding the interpretation of Çatalhöyük, a 9000 year old tell site in central Turkey, notes some important differences between Neolithic Çatalhöyük and the Indonesian societies described by Adams. Ritual was closely linked to daily practices in all houses at Çatalhöyük. While it is argued that socialization through daily routines in houses was a main mechanism for creating and maintaining social relationships at Çatalhöyük, it is also accepted that feasting was a very central part of social and political strategies. However the role of feasting needs to be situated within specific sets of historical meanings. Similarly, a contextual analysis of the circulation of human heads suggests that those at Çatalhöyük were more likely ancestral heads than victim or enemy heads.

Résumé

Résumé

Esta respuesta al comentario de Adams en relación a la interpretación de Çatalhöyük, un sitio montículo de 9,000 años de antiguedad en el centro de Turquía, da cuenta de varias diferencias importantes entre el Neolitíco de Çatalhöyük y las sociedades de Indonesia descriptas por Adams. El ritual estuvo muy ligado a las prácticas cotidianas en todas las casas de Çatalhöyük. La socialización a través de las rutinas cotidianas en las casas fue un mecanismo importante para creary mantener las relaciones sociales en Çatalhöyük, pew al mismo tiempo los festines cumplieron un rol central en las estrategias sociales y políticas. Sin embargo, el rol de los festines necesita ser situado dentro de un conjunto específico de significados históricos. De la misma manera, un análisis contextual de la circulación de las cabezas humanas sugiere que aquellas en Çatalhöyük eran más posiblemente cabezas de ancestros que cabezas de víctimas o enemigos.

Type
Comments
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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References

References Cited

Hodder, Ian 1990 The Domestication of Europe. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian 2005 The Leopard's Tale. Thames and Hudson, London, in Press.Google Scholar
Lewis-Williams, J. David 2004 Constructing a Cosmos: Architecture, Power and Domestication at Çatalhöyük. Journal of Social Archaeology 4:2859.Google Scholar
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