Unravelling the knot. A socio-material approach to the study of neolithic megasites : the View from Çatalhöyük

This dissertation investigates the social organization of large agricultural Neolithic communities using Çatalhöyük (7100-6000 BC) as a case study. My research aims to explore the nature of social networks that emerged within early agriculture communities during the early Holocene, including changes through time and the way they were spatially arranged. While the long-lived and densely occupied site of Çatalhöyük does not reveal clear signs of social differentiation or hierarchical power structures, differences between houses have been observed and explained in a variety of ways since the site was first discovered. This dissertation examines the hypothesis of social arrangements proposed by several scholars. It tests the role of spatial proximity as a principle of social organization, as well as the existence of cross-cutting connections linking houses across the entire site. Furthermore, it measures variation through time and potential changes in social structure from the Early to the Late occupation periods. From a methodological point of view, the social fabric of Çatalhöyük and its changing social geography is studied via formal socio-material network methods incorporating a large and diverse archaeological dataset produced by the Çatalhöyük Research Project over 25 years, combining a vast array of material categories. For this study, network models are constructed using the individual building as the smallest unit of analysis; houses at Çatalhöyük persist through time as the crucial nexus for the production and reproduction of social reality and they naturally lend themselves to be used as nodes in network models. Links between houses are traced using similarities of material culture which are used as proxies of processes of affiliation, belonging or social co-operation. A series of network metrics and models are used to highlight variation through space and time. My research reveals significant changes through time that suggest a process of community identity formation and material homogenization that appears to develop through the mediation of highly interconnected and central buildings that became prominent in the Middle period of the site's occupation. In addition, spatial proximity is an important organizing principle during the Early and Middle occupation periods, but became less important for shaping the social fabric of the site later on. Over time, socio-material links that cross-cut geographical proximity appear to be increasingly crucial for structuring social bonds at Çatalhöyük. As such, models of social organization that emphasize the role of cross-cutting flexible networks of relations and dependencies between houses seem to better explain the developments observed at Çatalhöyük. Geographic proximity and the location of buildings, however, persist as an important factor. This is noticeable both in the connections that link overlapping buildings throughout the entire chronological sequence and in the clusters of spatially adjacent houses detected both in the Early and Middle periods. A dense array of connections bound the site together while permitting a degree of autonomy and experimentation at different social scales. This nested multilevel social structure allowed for the co-occurrence of different types of affiliated groups and multiple connections at different scales. This is what made the site of Çatalhöyük resilient and sustainable for such a long time

Keywords: Anthropology.
Advisor: Hodder Ian
Bauer Andrew M. 
Knappett Carl