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" Community structure at Neolithic Catalhoyuk: Biological distance analysis of household, neighborhood, and settlement "
Marin Anna Pilloud
C. S. Larsen
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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53822
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| Doc. No
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TL23776
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3384750
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| Main Entry
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Marin Anna Pilloud
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| Title & Author
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Community structure at Neolithic Catalhoyuk: Biological distance analysis of household, neighborhood, and settlement\ Marin Anna Pilloud
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| College
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The Ohio State University
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| Date
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2009
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2009
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| Page No
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806
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| Abstract
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The principal objective of this study is to perform an intracemetery analysis of biological distance, or biodistance, at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, to better understand its social organization. Biological distance is a statistical measure of observable phenotypic similarities that are equated to genotypic similarities. Therefore, measures of biological distance serve as a way to determine biological affinity both between populations and individuals. Çatalhöyük is located in Central Anatolia and was occupied from approximately 7400-5600 cal BC. The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük interred their dead underneath the floors of their mudbrick homes, thus creating a cemetery structure with small subgroupings of individuals that is relatable to residence. Data were collected on dental metrics and morphology of both deciduous and permanent teeth to explore biological relationships within Çatalhöyük as related to interment location. Data were subject to statistical analyses at several levels including the individual, the home, the neighborhood, and the site. The results of this study indicated that inclusion for interment within a home was only minimally related to biological affinity. Also, some homes indicate that over time more importance could have been placed on interring biological relatives. There is evidence to suggest that within homes that endured over time, there is a preference to inter biological kin and could perhaps be evidence of lineal descent groups within these homes. Neighborhoods were not defined by biology and instead were centered around large houses (history houses) that served as a focus for interment of individuals from throughout the site that were not biologically related. Biological distinctions were found at a larger division of the site into two smaller northern and southern mounds. It appears that these two divisions in the mound were biologically based and perhaps represent two moieties that were important in defining the social structure of the site. Furthermore, it was found that females were the more variable sex suggesting that they were immigrants from other localities. These results are interpreted to suggest that Çatalhöyük social structure was centered on the house as the unit of production and reproduction. It appears that Çatalhöyük was in a transition from a kin-based hunting and gathering society to one organized around the house as a unifying social principle. Within Çatalhöyük the house was a key factor in social organization; in essence, the house was a form of kinship that transcended biological lines. Kin were not defined in strict terms of genes, instead different individuals would be included as kin in order to fulfill various social functions resulting in a more fluid definition of family. Dental data from Çatalhöyük were also compared to two other Neolithic Central Anatolian sites (Asikli Höyük and Musular). This comparison showed that variation between all three sites was low, which may be the result of gene flow within Central Anatolia. There is also evidence to suggest that there was temporal phenotypic variation within Çatalhöyük, which may also be the result of migration to the site. Finally, a fourth skeletal sample was studied to understand phenotypic variation during the Neolithic in Central Anatolia. Within Çatalhöyük there are several late skeletons with dates spanning from AD 60-1650. Comparisons of all four populations (Çatalhöyük, Asikli Höyük, Musular, and the late Çatalhöyük sample) indicated that the late sample was most like the Neolithic populations and Neolithic Musular was the least similar skeletal sample. These results can be interpreted to mean that these Central Anatolian populations may be ancestral to later Near Eastern populations. The findings of this study have allowed for a discussion of several key points of Çatalhöyük social structure and expounded upon the nature of Central Anatolia during the Neolithic. This research can be used to understand how the transition to settled life was organized and inform the discussion on cultural evolution.
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| Subject
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Social sciences; Biological distance; Central Anatolia; Neolithic; Dental metrics; Dentral morphology; Household; Neighborhood; Settlement; Catalhoyuk; Archaeology; 0324:Archaeology
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C. S. Larsen
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The Ohio State University
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