Discovery at the Neolithic - Case Study Example

Life at Hallan Cemi in the Neolithic Discovery at the Neolithic site οf Hallan Cemi was found whenMichael Rosenberg οf the University οf Delaware and his team dug out a site during the construction οf a dam. About 10,000 years ago, this was a small, permanent village with several round buildings made οf stones and mud plaster. And despite four years οf careful excavation, the archaeologists could find no remnants οf grains. But they did find pig teeth, teeth noticeably smaller than those οf wild boars. To Rosenberg, this looks like animal domestication, and it may have been the inhabitants original reason for staying put. This doesnt mean every settlement began with pigs, Rosenberg hastens to add: "I think people used what came most easily to hand. In the north there were forests and pigs. To the south, grains were easier to get hold of." Until recently, Southeastern Anatolia (Turkish Asia Monor) was largely written off as a cultural backwater during the Neolithic period, the long transition from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to settled farming. That perception changed dramatically with the discovery οf Hallan Cemi. The small Protoneolithic-period site was discovered in 1989 during archaelogical reconnaissance prior to construction οf a dam on the Batman river. Excavations, which began in 1991 under the direction οf Michael Rosenberg, have revealed it to be the oldest known permanently settled village in Anatolia, dating to more than 11,000 years ago. The village sat at the edge οf a riparian forest made up οf ash, willow, poplar, and buckthorn. The surrounding foothills were covered with an oak, pistachio, and almond forest. Fauna consisted οf wild sheep and goat, wild cattle, red deer, wild cat, brown bear, wild pig, and beaver. Turtles and clams were found in the Sason River. The village was made up οf semi subterranean huts οf wattle and daub set upon stone foundations. Each hut was linked to an exterior plastered surface where many have been carried out. The huts rarely exceeded two meters in diameter and were probably used primarily for sleeping. Two large structures, found in the upper levels οf the site, were six meters in diameter and had stone benches and plastered hearths. One contained a wild cattle skull that had originally hung on the wall. The size and nature οf these structures and associated deposits οf exotic materials suggest that they may have had some ritual or community-wide function. Flint and obsidian were used to produce stone blades and chipped stone tools. The flint was found locally; the obsidian came from Lake Van and Bingol. The presence οf relatively large amounts οf obsidian suggests that trade networks existed. This is further indicated by the presence οf malachite, a copper ore often used as a pigment, probably from the region around Ergani. An unexpected feature was the presence οf elaborately carved and decorated stone bowls and sculpted pestles. Vipers, a common motif, adorn some οf the bowls. Decorative motifs would become important later, suggesting that the florescence οf the later Anatolian Neolithic at sites such as Catal Hoyuk had its roots in early villages such Hallan Cemi. A major aim οf the excavation was to gain information concerning the subsistence economy. Animal bone and plant remains recovered from Hallan Cemi show that the inhabitants made their living almost completely from wild resources. This is a pattern that has been well attested throughout southwest Asia and οf itself is not surprising. The big surprise was the absence οf any wild cereals. Instead, bitter vetch, wild lentils, seeds from Gundelia (a spiny plant), almonds, and pistachios were the staples. Many archaeologists have thought that the exploitation οf dense stands οf wild cereals was a necessary precondition for permanent pre-agricultural settlements. But the evidence from Hallan Cemi suggests that any dense resource is sufficient and calls into question the hypothesized causal role οf intensive cereal exploitation in precipitating the emergence οf permanent settlements. Wild sheep, wild goat, red deer, and wild pig provided much οf the meat consumed at Hallan Cemi. The importance οf sheep and goat in southwest Asia today has led to the presumption that they were he earliest animals domesticated. In this, Hallan Cemi held another surprise. The earlist attempts at domesticating animals, apart from dogs, involved pigs. Apparently pigs were ideal in part because they are extremely efficient at converting plant foods into protein, they have high fertility rate, and the young imprint easily on humans, making them easy to tame. Pigs were also easy to obtain since they inhabited the nearby riparian forest and may have been attracted to garbage in the village. The presence οf special-purpose buildings, sophisticated craft production, objects used for record keeping, trade networks, and experimentation in animal domestication during the Protoneolithic period shows a high level οf complexity. But these are not isolated phenomena. Since the discovery οf Hallan Cemi, other contemporary sites have been found that will refine our understanding οf this crucial period. Today, Hallan Cemi lies under a lake, and many other sites will suffer the same fate in the near future. But they indicate that the reason southeastern Anatolia showed no evidence for habitation during the Neolithic was because no one had bothered to look for it. It is, perhaps, paradox that dam construction, the very thing that promises to destroy archaeological sites, has proven invaluable in opening our eyes to the richness οf Neolithic society. Domestic animals. "Hallan Cemi is, I think, an example οf the first stage," says Hauptmann. "The next step is Gobekli." The site, about 9,000 years old, is like a village, with stone buildings and hearths scattered over an area a thousand yards wide. But whats truly striking, says Hauptmann, is the culture. There are columns with repeated carved motifs οf birds caught in a net, oxen, and elaborate reliefs οf snakes, foxes, and cats. There are people intermingled among the animals, and the animals are not carved in threatening postures, as they are in the 30,000-year-old cave paintings in places such as Grotte Chauvet, France. There are further signs οf domestic life at a nearby site called Nevali Cori, where the buildings are rectangular and more easily partitioned; such architecture suggests that people began to desire their own spaces. Nevali Cori also shows specialized buildings: one with a large hearth for cooking, another with a workshop to produce flint tools, and another filled with human figurines. Still another 10,000-year-old site in the area, Asikli, has one large, well-put-together building surrounded by more-humble dwellings. "Its almost as if youre looking at the wrong and right sides οf the tracks," says Guillermo Algaze οf the University οf California-San Diego. "Much more time and effort went into the big building, and this may be the earliest physical evidence οf social divisions in a society on the way to princes and peasants." And the earliest evidence οf property rights: Over ensuing centuries, new houses were repeatedly built on top οf ruins οf old ones, instead οf in other parts οf the settlement. Specific groups might have had claims to specific plots οf land, Algaze says. Last spring, signs οf further complexity turned up not far away, just over todays Syrian border. At Tell Hamoukar, an expedition found signs οf a whole city, covering perhaps 500 acres, with a variety οf buildings nearly 6,000 years old. Some οf the buildings held huge institutional-size ovens, "which means people were cooking for other people," says McGuire Gibson οf the University οf Chicago. The team also found ceremonial seals made in three different sizes, indicating an elaborate hierarchy, with different seals indicating different levels οf power and authority. "What were doing is pushing the beginnings οf kingdoms further back in time," says Gibson, "at least 500 years earlier than wed previously thought." Many οf the Turkish sites are, like Zeugma, about to be inundated by dams; Nevali Cori is already gone. But Ozdogon points out that, ironically, the dams have actually helped archaeologists. "Weve known these sites have been out here for years, but its only when the dams were going up that people started going out and digging. If not for the dams, even the material we have found would still be buried." The archaeologists, in other words, are adapting to changing conditions. As is Yakup Kaya, who will abandon his pistachio garden for the nearby town οf Nizip. Perhaps he will make use οf the new irrigation projects and government relocation money to grow fields οf grain, taking advantage οf whatever the world provides, as people have done in this region since civilizations very start. Within minutes οf plunging into the warm Mediterranean Sea, explorer Franck Goddio spotted a red granite statue οf a crowned king some 20 feet high. "This was a miracle--the face οf a pharaoh, absolutely perfect, with just a slightly chipped nose," recalls the 53-year-old Frenchman. Much οf the surrounding shrines, paved roads, port infrastructure, and houses could be seen, too, with some sponges, algae, and coral plastering the ancient relies. "It was really a lost world," says Goddio. "We usually find artifacts, or sometimes were lucky enough to find foundations οf buildings, but here it was, a city." To digest the reality οf this fantastic sunken metropolis, the five-member diving team took their fins off and walked around the monuments. This was Herakleion, a once thriving urban center that until now lay submerged in shallow waters. The find not only brings to light physical evidence οf a long-forgotten city--known only through Greek tragedies, legends, and travelogues--it also showcases the powerful guiding hand οf technology and its ability to locate underwater treasures. For months leading up to the dive, Goddios 35-person crew had methodically scoured Abu Kit Bay with sophisticated instruments. Geologists and electrical engineers first constructed a painstaking topographical map οf the 230-square-mile sea floor. This narrowed the search, but irregular bumps and amorphous sediment were only clues to a possible sunken treasure. Then, armed with a side-scan sonar--a miniature torpedo-like machine towed behind the boat--the scientists reeled in a more detailed, three-dimensional image οf the bottom that included resemblances οf columns and walls. Still, Goddio never fathomed that his surveying equipment could position the expedition within just a few feet οf the underwater cache. Nor had he imagined that these hints were signs οf an entirely untouched municipality. But here it was, the long-vanished, glorious Herakleion. In its heyday, Herakleion prospered as a port city at the mouth οf the Nile. Traffic flowed down the busy river and had to pass through the town, which served as a tax-collecting customs zone. Greek historian Herodotus wrote about his visit 2,450 years ago to the citys temple, dedicated to Hercules. This was a legendary city, not only for its riches and arts but also for the numerous temples that made it a pilgrimage site. Yet ancient texts recount only a fragment οf Herakleions story. "Can you believe, we dont even know the name οf the city during Pharaonic times?" says Goddio. "We have a lot to learn about the gods they worshiped, the boats they navigated, the weaponry used, and the everyday life οf the people." Goddio guesses that the citys surrounding port may hold thousands οf artifacts, which might reveal in rich detail how the trade economy worked and what types οf people were involved. Sinking feeling. A particularly poignant mystery Goddios group hopes to solve is why the city sank some 1,300 years ago. The Smithsonians Daniel Stanley, a geologist on the trip, already has a theory. He brought back a sample οf the citys soil and sent it off unlabeled to several οf his colleagues labs. They concluded from analysis οf flora and fauna debris that it was soft, oozy marsh mud. Apparently, the Egyptians couldnt resist building their city on such a strategic site, the gateway to all merchants on the Nile. "It was an accident waiting to happen," Stanley declares. Something as trifling as a storm or a tiny seismic tremor could have caused the mushy terrain to liquefy and collapse beneath them, leading to this catastrophic submersion. The metropolis that took years to build, and more than a millennium to rediscover, could have vanished under the sea in a matter οf days, or even hours. With 10-foot-long bushmaster snakes writhing through its trees, the eastern slopes οf Peru are menacing territory. "Imagine the Amazon jungle stretched over the Rocky Mountains," says Michael Moseley, an archaeologist at the University οf Florida. "Hardly anyone goes there." But American explorer Gene Savoy and his 46-member expedition ventured into these virgin Andean cloud forests and surfaced with a stunning revelation: the vestiges οf a pre-Incan city untouched for centuries. Amid thick vegetation dotted with chattering monkeys, the team found an urban complex οf 150 stone buildings, cobbled roads, temples, and burial towers that belonged to the tribe οf Chaehapoyas warriors who settled the area 1,300 years ago. Their discovery--which he calls Gran Saposoa after the river Sapo nearby--not only lends insight into this little-known pre-Incan culture but also throws new light on the legendary kingdom οf El Dorado. Decked out in beat-up Nevadan cowboy boots and his lucky cowboy hat, Savoy guided his intrepid team for 18 clays through the sopping-wet, unforgiving territory. The 73-year-old Savoy has found dozens οf Peruvian ruins since the early 1960s, but this adventure was indeed the most treacherous and hostile. The pioneers slogged through waist-deep mud, hacked with machetes through dense mats οf vines and thistles to carve a path through the forest, and built makeshift bridges over rivers where the ancient ones had collapsed. Since no Westerner had ever officially encountered the ruins before, Savoy intuited the location οf the 15-square-mile city based upon the geography οf other Chaehapoyas settlements nearby. He used handwritten military maps as a general guide, but the area where the city should have been was only a blank green expanse. The first clue that they were headed in the right direction was well-preserved stone paths, leading up the steep hillsides. Grabbing their infrared binoculars, which could pierce through the tangle, the teams archaeologists scanned the area for more evidence and discovered ruins scattered around the hilltops. "When you find a city thats been hidden for hundreds οf years, its a feeling οf satisfaction and contentment like no other," says Savoy. "My mind immediately drifts back to the battles between the Chachapoyas and the Incas, imagining what that was like." Amid the euphoria οf the find, Savoy speculates that the remains could be El Dorado, one οf the Seven Golden Cities sought by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. He plans to go back in early summer to pursue the possibility, since he has come across old manuscripts linking this area οf Chachapoyas settlement to an ancient land rich in gold. El Dorado means "the gilded one" in Spanish, referring to a legendary king who was so rich that he dusted his body with a fresh coating οf gold each day and washed it off each night. His kingdom was rumored to exist in northern South America, but so far no one has found it and many scholars believe it doesnt exist, arguing that natives actually cooked up the myth to frustrate and get rid οf explorers. Still, Savoy contends that the tale is based on fact: A rich king civilized not one but several cultures, and these cities panned for gold in local rivers and traded it to coastal people in exchange for food and other goods. Whether or not there exists a connection with the fabled city, the lost jungle empire Savoy has unearthed will surely rally archaeologists to piece together a more complete tale οf Andean history. Despite the perilous reputation οf this mountain region, scholars are seriously turning their attention to the area in hopes οf finding more lost cities. Says Moseley: "The eastern slopes are terra incognita for archaeologists, and Savoy is reminding us that theres a lot οf good stuff out there." Last spring, Gene Savoys party wasnt the only one uncovering virgin terrain in Peru. At the opposite corner οf the country, under clear blue skies in one οf the driest places on Earth, Boston Universitys Ryan Williams and his team οf archaeologists chiseled away at a mind-boggling set οf ruins in the Atacama desert. Although these scientists trod a landscape vastly different from Savoys, they too have emerged with fresh insights into the untold history οf pre-Incan cultures. Sacred summits. Here in this sun-baked valley, atop two majestically soaring mountain peaks, the excavators have dug up the remains οf the Wari culture, South Americas first empire. These ancient people built their bustling city with administrative offices and ceremonial halls on one summit, Cerro Bafil, and a supporting suburb with spacious, one-story houses on the other, Cerro Mejia. In its prime, middle-class artisans crafted beaded necklaces and did metal work for the governors, farmers tilled the irrigated fields below for corn and potatoes, and peasants dragged jugs οf water up and down the mountains for the citizens. The sites were major municipalities between 1,400 and 1,000 years ago, but why the Wari would choose to inhabit the arid tops οf these mesas, nearly an hours hike from the nearest water and food down below, is baffling. "This was a very strange example οf a city placed in an inaccessible area," says Williams. "It defied common sense." But Williams believes he can make sense οf the odd decision, with evidence from recent exhumations. Relics from the surrounding areas reveal that this was a sacred mountain, revered by local villagers through sacrifice and prayer even before the Wari arrived. It retained ritualistic and religious importance to the Wari, once they settled there, as suggested by the remains οf a sacrificed llama embedded in charcoal, a small offering box containing 93 obsidian blades buried in a ritual pit, and depictions οf deities on drinking vessels. Williamss hypothesis is that the Wari swapped convenience for power and settled this seemingly uninhabitable summit to capture the sacred spirit οf the mountain, which would enhance their standing among other groups in the region. The pre-Incan Wari ruled this area for 400 years, and their history is just beginning to garner much-deserved attention. After all, the Inca dominated the region centuries later for a fraction οf that time, and they have earned household-name status. Remarks Williams: "To really understand Native American empires, we must investigate not only the last one--the Inca--but the developmental sequence that led to their glorious history." And right now, such history is prominently unveiling itself, as archaeologists probe the ruins and remains that until now have been lost to the sands and vines οf time. Bibliography Asouti, E. 2006. Beyond the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere. Journal οf World Prehistory 20(2-4):87-126. Buitenhuis, H. 2002. The transition from foraging to farming: the archaeozoological perspective in Anatolia. In Dawn οf farming in the Near East, edited by R. T. J. Cappers and S. Bottema, pp. 183-189. SENEPSE 6. ex Oriente, Berlin. Goring-Morris, N. and A. Belfer-Cohen. 2002. 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