Catal huyuk
Catal huyukAccording to archaeologist in order to be defined as a civilization certain criteria must be met. Early archaeologists believed in order to be considered a civilization a society must have cultural superiority, which meant they must have the ability to read and write. If this was the sole criteria used to judge if a society was labeled a civilization, then you could say the Inca of South America, who constructed cities on top of mountains and had a complex system of irrigation canals, were not one because they did not have a system for reading or writing. Modern archaeologists now think of civilization as not better but different. The modern definition of civilization consists of the development of cities, or urbanization, the existence of a centralized political unit, a dense population in the thousands and a degree of organizational complexity. After reading and listening to class lecture I believe that Catal Huyuk should be considered a civilization. As you read on I will discuss point by point why I feel Catal Huyuk was a civilization.
Signs of craft specialization are very apparent at Catal Huyuk. There are a variety tools and weapons made from obsidian, flint, stone and bone. A process called flint knapping, or chipping, was used to shape a stone, like flint, into a sharp tool which could be used in arrowheads. Another process that was used in making tools was called grounding. This involved using two stones one of which was struck against the other to shape it into the desired size, and then the stone was ground against another stone to make it sharp. This is often seen in ax heads and maces. Obsidian mirrors are made in the same grounding process. Bone needles used for stitching clothes were also found. My point with identifying all these different methods of making tools is that it is highly unlikely that each and every household had the skills to do all these functions. There must have been class levels in this society and since there wasn�t any sign of currency they must have used some sort of bartering system attain these services. Like a hunter going to get his ax re-sharpened and paying the craftsmen with some game that he has killed.
The clay balls mentioned during class were very technologically advanced for the time. These clay balls were used in all sorts of ways. For instance after being heated they could be used for bringing water to a boil quickly and the clay balls could also be used in cooking meat. The clay balls are placed inside the meat buried and as the clay balls slowly cool the meat cooks. The final use for the clay balls that was mentioned during...
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