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Time of change: cattle in the social practices of Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük

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Abstract

Multiple lines of evidence indicate the occurrence of social changes in the Late Neolithic at Çatalhöyük; here, we particularly consider the cattle evidence. The social significance of cattle is discussed in an overview of special deposits, feasting events and burial practices, all in relation to architectural features. Evidence linking social and economic changes—especially in regards to the issue of domestication—is provided and is shown in relation to the transformation of everyday life. It seems that the emergence of morphologically domesticated cattle led to changes, not only in the subsidence strategy (in the form of decreased interest in aurochs), but also in the symbolic dimension of life. The social changes in the Late Neolithic at Çatalhöyük—especially seen in the case of a cattle bucranium with the juxtaposition of a human skull and the co-occurrence of elements of cattle and aurochs in a single deposit—coincide in time with the occurrence of morphologically domestic cattle. These changes are considered with respect to data from earlier levels of the occupational sequence at Çatalhöyük East.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks must go to the organizers of the 12th ASWA Conference in Groningen (Archaeozoology of Southwestern Asia and Adjacent Areas), where this paper was presented. Of my colleagues at the Çatalhöyük Research Project, I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to Lech Czerniak, Ian Hodder, and Arkadiusz Marcinak; and to Louise Martin, Nerissa Russell, and Katheryn Twiss for their contributions to our knowledge of the special deposits, especially from TP area. I am thankful to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism for permission to carry out the archaeological field research.

Funding

Financial support for the archaeological and zooarchaeological work as well as for radiocarbon dating was provided by Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (http://amu.edu.pl) (KP) and the State Committee for Scientific Research (grant number 2PO4D07427, grant manager Kamilla Pawłowska; http://kbn.icm.edu.pl/en) (KP). Radiocarbon study of all animal bones were carried out in 2004–2007 by author. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kamilla Pawłowska.

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Pawłowska, K. Time of change: cattle in the social practices of Late Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 39 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00961-x

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