Editing Çatalhöyük (section)

==Religion==
[[File:AnkaraMuseumCatal.jpg|thumb|Mural, [[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]]]
[[File:Mural from Çatalhöyük excavated by James Mellaart showing neolithic hunters attacking an aurochs (Bos primigenius)..jpg|thumb|Neolithic hunters attacking an aurochs, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]
[[File:Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük on black background.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük|Seated goddess]] flanked by two [[Felidae|felines]], leopards or lionesses]]

{{see also|History of religion}}
A feature of Çatalhöyük are its female figurines. Mellaart, the original excavator, argued that these carefully made figurines, carved and molded from [[marble]], blue and brown [[limestone]], [[schist]], calcite, [[basalt]], [[alabaster]], and clay, represented a [[female deity]]. Although a male deity existed as well, "statues of a female [[deity]] far outnumber those of the male deity, who moreover, does not appear to be represented at all after Level&nbsp;VI".<ref name=mellart181>{{cite book | first = James | last = Mellaart |year = 1967 | title = Catal Huyuk: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill]] | pages = 181}}</ref> To date, eighteen levels have been identified. These figurines were found primarily in areas Mellaart believed to be shrines. The stately goddess seated on a [[throne]] flanked by two lionesses was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply.<ref name=mellart180>Mellaart (1967), 180.</ref>

Whereas Mellaart excavated nearly two hundred buildings in four seasons, the current excavator, Ian Hodder, spent an entire season excavating one building alone.<ref name=balter127>{{cite book | first = Michael | last = Balter | title = The Goddess and the Bull | year = 2005 | publisher = Free Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-7432-4360-5 | pages = 127}}</ref> Hodder and his team, in 2004 and 2005, began to believe that the patterns suggested by Mellaart were false. They found one similar figurine, but the vast majority did not imitate the [[Mother Goddess]] style that Mellaart suggested. Instead of a Mother Goddess culture, Hodder points out that the site gives little indication of a [[matriarchy]] or [[patriarchy]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Çatalhöyük: Ancient History of the Anatolia | url = http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2005/ar05_01.html}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|There are full breasts on which the hands rest, and the stomach is extended in the central part. There is a hole in the top for the head which is missing. As one turns the figurine around one notices that the arms are very thin, and then on the back of the figurine one sees a depiction of either a skeleton or the bones of a very thin and depleted human. The ribs and vertebrae are clear, as are the [[scapula]]e and the main pelvic bones. The figurine can be interpreted in a number of ways – as a woman turning into an ancestor, as a woman associated with death, or as death and life conjoined. It is possible that the lines around the body represent wrapping rather than ribs. Whatever the specific interpretation, this is a unique piece that may force us to change our views of the nature of Çatalhöyük society and imagery. Perhaps the importance of female imagery was related to some special role of the female in relation to death as much as to the roles of mother and nurturer.<ref name=hodder>{{cite web | last = Hodder | first = Ian | title = New finds and new interpretations at Çatalhöyük | work = Çatalhöyük 2005 Archive Report | publisher = Catalhoyuk Research Project, Institute of Archaeology | year = 2005 | url = http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2005/ar05_01.html}}</ref>}}

In an article in the ''[[Turkish Daily News]]'', Hodder is reported as denying that Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society and quoted as saying "When we look at what they eat and drink and at their social statues, we see that men and women had the same social status. There was a balance of power. Another example is the skulls found. If one's social status was of high importance in Çatalhöyük, the body and head were separated after death. The number of female and male skulls found during the excavations is almost equal."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=93856 | title = A Journey to 9000 years ago | date = 1 January 2008| access-date = 7 August 2008 | last = Hodder | first = Ian }}</ref> In another article in the ''Hurriyet Daily News'' Hodder is reported to say "We have learned that men and women were equally approached".<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?PageID=238&NID=72411&NewsCatID=375 | title = Çatalhöyük excavations reveal gender equality in ancient settled life | date = 2 March 2015| access-date = 25 March 2015 | last = Hodder | first = Ian }}</ref>

In a report in September 2009 on the discovery of around 2000 figurines Hodder is quoted as saying:
{{blockquote|Çatalhöyük was excavated in the 1960s in a methodical way, but not using the full range of natural science techniques that are available to us today. Sir James Mellaart who excavated the site in the 1960s came up with all sorts of ideas about the way the site was organized and how it was lived in and so on ... We've now started working there since the mid 1990s and come up with very different ideas about the site. One of the most obvious examples of that is that Çatalhöyük is perhaps best known for the idea of the mother [[goddess]]. But our work more recently has tended to show that in fact there is very little evidence of a mother goddess and very little evidence of some sort of female-based matriarchy. That's just one of the many myths that the modern scientific work is undermining.<ref name="O'Brien">O'Brien, Jeremy "New techniques undermine 'mother goddess' role in the community" ''Irish Times'' September 20, 2009 [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0910/1224254196976.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113131748/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0910/1224254196976.html |date=13 November 2011 }}</ref>}}
Professor [[Lynn Meskell]] explained that while the original excavations had found only 200 figures, the new excavations had uncovered 2,000 figures, most of which depicted animals, and fewer than 5% of the figurines depicted women.<ref name="O'Brien" />

Estonian folklorist [[Uku Masing]] has suggested as early as in 1976, that Çatalhöyük was probably a hunting and gathering religion and the Mother Goddess figurine did not represent a female deity. He implied that perhaps a longer period of time was needed to develop symbols for agricultural rites.<ref name=Masing>{{cite book | first = Uku | last = Masing | year = 2011 | title = Aarded Tellistes | publisher = Ilmamaa | location = Tartu, Estonia | isbn = 978-9985-77-351-2 | pages = 209–227}}</ref> His theory was developed in the paper "Some remarks on the mythology of the people of Catal Hüyük".<ref>Oriental Studies 3. Acta et Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis 392 / Tartu Riikliku Ülikooli Toimetised 392. Tartu 1976, 75–92.</ref>