The Mycenaean civilization, in fact, flourished during the late Bronze Age on the Greek mainland and consequently. It remains one of the most fascinating subjects in the study of ancient cultures.
Known for its impressive palaces, advanced art, and complex socio-political structures, the Mycenaean society was a significant precursor to Classical Greece. This vibrant civilization vanished around 1100 BCE, leaving behind tantalizing archaeological remnants and a wealth of unanswered questions. This documentary will explore the Mycenaean way of life, their achievements, and the multifaceted factors that led to their eventual decline.
1: THE RISE OF THE MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
1.1 Origins and Development
The Mycenaean civilizationarose in the late 16th century BCE, influenced heavily by the earlier Minoan civilization centered on Crete. As the Minoans began to decline, the Mycenaeans emerged as a dominant force in the Aegean region.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Mycenaeans adopted and adapted various aspects of Minoan culture, including trade practices, art, and religious customs.
1.2 Social Structure
The Mycenaean society was hierarchical, with a clear class system. At the top was the wanax, or king, who held supreme power over the kingdom. A class of nobles and warriors, known as lawagetas, supported the wanax by governing local regions and providing military support. Below this elite class were craftsmen, farmers, and laborers, who formed the backbone of the economy. This social stratification allowed for efficient administration and resource allocation, contributing to the civilization’s prosperity.
1.3 Palatial Centers
Central to Mycenaean life were their monumental palaces, which served as administrative, economic, and religious centers. The most notable of these palatial sites include Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos. These palaces had massive stone walls and complex layouts, featuring large storage rooms filled with goods. The presence of large-scale architecture indicates a highly organized society capable of mobilizing labor and resources.
1.4 Writing and Record Keeping
The Mycenaeans developed a writing system known as Linear B, which they primarily used for administrative purposes.
Linear B tablets, discovered at various palatial sites, provide insights into the economic activities, trade relations, and social organization of Mycenaean society. The existence of these records reveals a sophisticated bureaucratic system that managed everything from agricultural production to taxation.
1.5 Religion and Culture
Religion played a central role in Mycenaean life. The Mycenaeans practiced a polytheistic religion; they worshipped a pantheon of gods that included major deities Zeus, Poseidon, and Hera. Religious practices included rituals, offerings, and festivals. The civilization’s artistic achievements, evident in pottery, frescoes, jewelry, reflected their religious beliefs and societal values.
2: DAILY LIFE IN MYCENAEAN SOCIETY
2.1 Agriculture and Food Production
Agriculture was the foundation of the Mycenaean economy. The primary crops included wheat, barley, olives, farmers raised livestock such sheep, goats, and cattle.
The Mycenaeans practiced advanced farming techniques, including crop rotation and irrigation, allowing for efficient land use.
Food was a vital aspect of social life, with communal feasting playing an essential role in reinforcing social ties and status. The Mycenaeans produced a variety of foodstuffs, including bread, porridge, and wine, which were central to their diet.
2.2 Trade and Economic Networks
Trade was crucial to the Mycenaean economy, facilitating the exchange of goods and ideas with neighboring cultures. Mycenaeans traded pottery, textiles, and metals, establishing networks that extended throughout the Mediterranean, including regions in Egypt, the Near East, and the Aegean islands. This trade not only enriched the Mycenaean economy, facilitated cultural exchanges that influenced their artistic technological development.
2.3 Art and Craftsmanship
Highly skilled artisans from Mycenae produced exquisite pottery, gold jewelry, and decorative items. The intricate designs of distinctive Mycenaean pottery often depict scenes of warfare, mythology, and daily life.
Goldsmiths created intricate jewelry and ceremonial artifacts, showcasing the civilization’s artistic capabilities and wealth.
2.4 Warfare and Military Culture
Warfare was an integral part of Mycenaean life. The civilization’s warrior culture emphasized strength valor, with warriors serving as protectors of their communities and participants in raids against neighboring territories. The presence of weapons in tombs and palatial sites indicates a society prepared for conflict, with military prowess viewed as a measure of status and honor.
3: THE DECLINE OF THE MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
Despite their achievements, the Mycenaean civilization began to decline around 1200 BCE. This period saw a convergence of factors that ultimately led to their downfall.
3.1 Environmental Changes
One potential cause of the Mycenaean decline is environmental change. Evidence suggests that the region experienced prolonged droughts and climatic shifts, which could have severely impacted agricultural production.
Food shortages may have triggered social unrest, straining the already complex social structures.
3.2 Invasions and Internal Conflicts
The Mycenaeans faced increasing threats from outside invaders, including the mysterious Sea Peoples. These maritime raiders disrupted trade and caused destruction in several regions. Additionally, internal conflicts and power struggles among the elite could have weakened the centralized authority necessary for effective governance and defense.
3.3 Economic Disruption
Invasions and environmental stress likely disrupted trade routes, which in turn harmed the Mycenaean economy. The decline in trade would have led to resource shortages, exacerbating the challenges faced by the population. Economic instability could have undermined the hierarchical structures that supported the civilization, leading to a breakdown in social order.
3.4 Cultural Transformation
The transition into what is often referred to as the Greek Dark Ages was marked by the fall of the Mycenaean palatial centers. This era saw a decline in literacy, artistic production, and trade. Many people abandoned the palatial sites, and the Mycenaeans’ complex socio-political structures gave way to smaller, more localized communities.
4: THE LEGACY OF THE MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
Despite their decline, the Mycenaean civilization left an indelible mark on history.
4.1 Myths and Literature
The Mycenaeans inspired many of the myths and legends that shaped Greek literature. Poets deeply rooted their tales of heroes likes Achilles Odysseus, the stories spread the Trojan War, in Mycenaean history.
Poets like Homer immortalized these narratives, influencing Western literature and thought for centuries.
4.2 Archaeological Discoveries
Archaeological excavations have uncovered a wealth of artifacts that shed light on Mycenaean life. The discovery of Linear B tablets has been particularly significant, providing insights into their language, administration economy. These findings continue to inform our understanding of the ancient world and the complexities of early civilizations.
4.3 Cultural Continuity
The Mycenaean civilization laid the groundwork for the emergence of classical Greece. Many aspects of their culture, religious practices, artistic styles, social organization, persisted evolved in Greek societies. The Mycenaeans laid the foundations that occasionally led to the rise of city-states, democracy philosophical ideology.
The Mycenaean civilization represents a remarkable chapter in human history, characterized by its achievements in architecture, art, and governance. Their rise to prominence in the Aegean region showcases the complexity and dynamism of ancient societies. Their decline serves as a poignant reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by civilizations throughout history. Environmental changes, invasions, and internal conflicts converged to bring about the end of the Mycenaean era, leading to a transformative period in the ancient world.
As we study the remnants of this civilization, we gain valuable insights into the human experience, reminding us of our shared history and the intricate tapestry of cultural evolution. The legacy of the Mycenaean civilization endures, influencing our understanding of the past and shaping our present, illustrating the enduring power of human creativity and resilience.
EPILOGUE: REFLECTING ON THE MYCENAEAN LEGACY
The story of the Mycenaean civilization resonates in modern discussions about cultural identity, the fragility of societies, and the importance of preserving history. By examining their achievements and challenges, we gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of human civilization and the lessons learned from the past.
In a world that continues to face environmental, social, and political challenges, the history of the Mycenaeans serves as a reminder of the resilience required to adapt and thrive. As we reflect on their legacy, the rise and fall of civilizations reminds us that their contributions can impact human history for millennia.
This documentary format provides a comprehensive overview of the Mycenaean civilization, their lifestyle, and the reasons for their decline, aiming for a depth of understanding that captures the complexities of this ancient culture.
Mari the Lost City of Mesopotamia was located in Syria early in the 20th century. It turned out to be the first of a startling series of archaeological discoveries. A palace and temples followed – and soon an entire city was brought to light.
TELL HARIRI LIES ON THE WEST BANKof the river Euphrates in Syria, 12km (71⁄2 miles) from the border with Iraq. In the early 20th century, people considered the ruins at the site to be of little interest – there were scores of similar sites, or tells, throughout the lands of the Middle East. But in the 1930s, while Syria was a French mandate, a Bedouin foraging among the ruins for a suitable gravestone discovered a headless statue.
The statue bore an inscription in cuneiform – ancient, wedge-shaped writing. The local authorities hurriedly stopped casual digging at the site, and they sent the French archaeologist André Parrot to explore the tell.
Parrot unearthed a large number of alabaster statues of the period known as Early Dynastic III, most of them inscribed with the Semitic names of kings, viziers, and priests. One, bearing a dedication to the goddess Ishtar, was inscribed with the name of the king of Mari – a find that unlocked the secrets of the site. Tell Hariri stood on the ruins of the lost city of Mari.
A MYSTERY IS SOLVED
The name of Mari had already cropped up in the records of the great Mesopotamian civilization of “Sumer”, discovered by earlier archaeologists. “Sumer” was centered on the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where great cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Eridu, and Ur flourished some 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Its people invented writing, and in early texts now known as the king-list, they named Mari as one of the dozen or so city-states struggling for supremacy between about 3000 and 2300 BC. But Tell Hariri was a long way from the known centers of “Sumerian” civilization – and its discovery revolutionized thinking about ancient Mesopotamia. Clearly, its culture had been shared by other peoples living much farther up the Euphrates than had been imagined.
While working on the site in 1934, Parrot was visited by Henri Frankfort, a Dutch archaeologist then exploring Tell Asmar and Khafajeh, some 400km (250 miles) to the east. His findings were strikingly similar to Parrot’s, suggesting that a single civilization spanned the entire breadth of Mesopotamia. Parrot went on to reveal the true grandeur of ancient Mari. He discovered two royal palaces, one of which dated back to 2500 BC – the time of the Early Dynastic Period – and a haul of inscribed tablets, which helped to build up a vivid picture of the city’s history.
A COMMERCIAL HEARTLAND
Mari’s importance grew from its key position on the trade route connecting Mesopotamia with Syria to the northwest. The “Sumerian” settlements of the delta were rich in agricultural produce, but they needed crucial raw materials from Syria to sustain their city culture. “Sumer” exported corn, leather, and wool to receive in return scarce building materials such as stone and timber. Silver and lead came down from the Syrian hills to supply “Sumerian” metalworkers. They imported copper from as far away as the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor and from Magan (the Oman coast) in the Persian Gulf.
As trade expanded, emissaries on military and diplomatic missions traveled to Mari to maintain links with its supply lines. During excavations of the Early Dynastic palace, André Parrot discovered a cache of objects, including several cylindrical seals, which Mesannepadda, king of the “Sumerian” city of Ur, presented to the local ruler. The evidence showed that Mesannepadda sent an important diplomatic mission to Mari around 2500 BC. Mesannepadda sent a scribe as his envoy. The king sent a message of friendship to Mari’s ruler, offering an alliance and rich gifts, including a magnificent blue Anzu bird pendant of lapis lazuli imported from beyond the Iranian plateau and inscribed with the royal sender’s name. Ur dominated many of the other “Sumerian” cities at the time, so nobody would have obstructed the envoy’s caravan. As it traveled up the valley of the Euphrates, the envoy noticed linguistic changes. But the “Sumerian” scholar had no problem understanding the Semitic tongue: Bedouin herdsmen often drove their cattle up and down the valley and mixed freely with the city-dwellers in the south. Ur residents understood their language.
In the dry uplands of the Euphrates, Mari loomed like an oasis, irrigated by networks of canals leading off the great river. A dyke protected the city from flooding, and ramparts of unbaked brick fortified its walls. A royal official greeted the envoy at the gates and conducted him to the newly erected palace.
In the great visitors’ courtyard, the envoy awaited an audience. At the appointed time, a group of dignitaries arrived—scribes, army officers, and relatives of the king—followed by the king himself. The king wore a costume similar to his entourage, consisting mainly of goatskin from waist to ankle, but he distinguished himself with the arrangement of his long hair, plaited in a diadem around his head with a double bun above the nape of the neck.
RICHNESS AND ROYALTY
After a short reception ceremony, the envoy followed the king through several halls to a courtyard with a decorated altar and walls inset with rectangular columns. From the courtyard, two doors opened into a long chamber, the sanctuary, at the back of which was another room containing the sepulcher of the dynasty’s ancestor. Above his tomb was an altar where the reigning king officiated as high priest and god.
On the walls, mosaics illustrated New Year festivals in which the king stood in for his god and the queen played the god’s consort, acting out a divine marriage ceremony. If their union proved fruitful, it predicted a fertile year. Artisans carved the mosaic figures from mother-of-pearl imported from the Persian Gulf and mounted them in bitumen on wooden panels. The envoy would have been familiar with the content of the mosaics—New Year’s rites were similar to those practiced at Ur—but he would have found the artistry unusually refined. Mesannepadda intended his diplomatic mission to tighten the bonds between Ur and Mari. Clouds gathered to the west where the king of Ebla (present-day Tell Mardikh) posed a serious threat. This fearsome monarch subjugated his neighbors and conquered many more distant areas.
The king of Mari clearly wanted to show the importance he attached to the visit of the “Sumerian” envoy. His treasury prepared offerings for burial beneath the new palace’s foundations: copper, gold, and silver bracelets, silver pendants, and a series of cylinder seals from the city’s workshops. A king of Syria sent two statuettes of goddesses, one of ivory, the other silver. Both were naked—shocking to a “Sumerian.” They added the cylinder seals and pendant of lapis lazuli from Ur to this hoard of treasures. They placed all these items in a large jug and buried it beneath the courtyard. For the benefit of the gods, this act symbolized the splendor of the king of Mari and the scope of his international relations.
THE COMFORT OF THE FAMILIAR
Over the centuries, Mari underwent developments like any other city. But even in 2400 BC, a century after Mesannepadda’s envoy visited, a “Sumerian” traveler would have found much to remind him of home.
Mari’s narrow, carefully laid-out streets resembled those of Ur. Near the palace stood the temple of Ninni-Zaza, a goddess also known at Ur. Through the temple’s entrance hall was something rather less familiar to a “Sumerian”: a tapering stone set in the middle of the temple courtyard. In Mari, the gods not only took human shape—their presence also dwelled in stone. Mari’s western neighbors shared this belief, which alienated the “Sumerians.” They regularly anointed the stone with oil, and priests placed offerings of sacred cakes nearby. Two doors led from the entrance hall to a chamber where the goddess sat, wearing a horned tiara. Below it, priests poured water into vases sunk into the floor. They placed offerings of food on a nearby table. A host of statuettes carved from white alabaster or limestone stood on a brick bench facing the entrance.
They depicted the notables of Mari in postures of reverence and prayer. One bore the inscription Iku-Shamagan, ‘King of Mari.’ Others represented Salim, the ‘King’s Eldest Brother,’ Mashigirru, the ‘Country’s Grandee,’ and lastly the ‘Royal Cup-bearer,’ ‘Steward of the King’s Household,’ and ‘Great Scribe’ (the prime minister, Ipumsar). The inscriptions used a Semitic language, but the script was “Sumerian” and easy enough to decipher since the symbols represented concepts as much as sounds. Religion at Mari differed in some important ways from that practiced at Ur. Images on cylinder seals found at the site depict the Sun god, the patron deity of Mari, at the prow of a serpent-shaped vessel, brandishing a leafy branch.
The god sailed the celestial ocean, which ancient people believed to span the world and feed the Earth’s rivers. He reigned over the Universe as the master of all life, particularly of plants. In this capacity, he also served as the patron of ploughmen, and they depicted a plow at his side. Ur’s patron deity, the moon god Nanna, appeared in a more down-to-earth fashion. Nanna was the highest in a hierarchy of gods: each deity exercised power through spirits who fulfilled specific roles.
But despite the power of the gods and the alliance with Ur, Mari soon fell. Sometime between 2350 and 2300 BC, invaders destroyed the city. Historians are unsure of who the invader was: some suggest the ruler of neighboring Ebla, while others point to the mighty Sargon of Akkad, who, from his capital near Babylon, conquered lands between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean to establish the first Mesopotamian empire. When Mari became part of this empire, builders began reconstructing the ruins. However, Sargon’s supremacy crumbled within a century and was eventually replaced by a “Sumerian” empire based at Ur. From about 2111 to 2003 BC, Mari’s rulers served as vassals to Ur. This period was marked by deep disturbances. Nomadic peoples from the Syrian desert and beyond gradually migrated into Mesopotamia.
They became established at Mari, and one of their princes marched from the city on Ur, joining forces with the Elamites of the Iranian plateau to the east to destroy the last “Sumerian” dynasty. Ur’s glory was at an end. However, the new rulers, the Amorites, adopted the civilization of the conquered peoples and restored the kingdom. At the end of the 19th century BC, the Amorite Yagit-Lim founded a dynasty at Mari. Trade flourished, and the city’s workshops thronged with craftsmen. Mari became famous for its metalwork, producing everything from fish hooks to ploughshares.
But the city did not stand alone as a major power. During the rule of Yagit-Lim’s son, Yahdun-Lim, the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad controlled the middle valley of the Tigris from his base at Ashur. Shamshi-Adad looked jealously at the stretch of the Euphrates controlled by Mari, and had Yahdun-Lim assassinated, placing his own son, Yasmah-Addu, on the throne. But the Assyrian prince was weak, and when his father died, Mari was seized by a usurper, Ishar-Lim. The legitimate heir took his opportunity and returned from his refuge at Aleppo to drive out the usurper. The name of the rightful king was Zimri-Lim.
INSIDE THE ROYAL CHAMBERS
Zimri-Lim (c.1780-1759 BC) took over and extended the palace, making it the administrative heart of the kingdom. Contemporaries considered it one of the wonders of the world. Archaeologists found it to be a major discovery. A single entrance flanked by towers provided access to the fortress-like building. Beyond the entrance, a series of quadrangles led to a large courtyard shaded by palm trees.
Scholars refer to this ‘palm court’ as the site of Mari’s old administrative center. From it, a sacred way led to the palace chapel—a shrine built over the ruins of the old palace’s sanctuary. An audience hall opened onto the courtyard. The walls of the courtyard displayed paintings from before Zimri-Lim’s time, depicting Mari’s king making a libation to the Moon-god.
To the west of the Palm Court, Yahdun-Lim and Zimri-Lim added private apartments for the royal family. Servants positioned two terracotta baths beside a hearth in the queen’s chamber to heat water. Near the state rooms, apartments for distinguished visitors contained bathrooms with latrines and well-equipped kitchens.
The building’s plumbing arrangements were remarkable. Builders applied coatings of bitumen on the floors and lower walls of the bathrooms to protect against dampness. Brick gutters were set into the paving, and workers sunk clay pipes lined with bitumen 9m (30ft) into the ground. While excavating the palace, André Parrot discovered the efficiency of the drainage system. A sudden cloudburst soaked the site, creating chaos with mud and water in the pits and trenches, but the waters subsided in minutes, carried away by the 4,000-year-old plumbing system.
The domestic wing and service rooms connected to the royal apartments, and a ceremonial courtyard about 29m (95ft) long and 26m (85ft) wide. An enormous door led from the courtyard to the throne room, which opened onto a vast royal temple. The throne stood on a dais at the back of the temple, facing a gallery. This inner sanctum of the dynastic cult housed royal statues of Mari’s ancestral kings on plinths.
The absence of windows is an interesting feature of the palace. Daylight probably entered through broad doorways opening onto the courtyards or through circular skylights.
LETTERS FROM THE PAST
Tireless scribes of Mari recorded the construction details of the palace, including decrees for building canals, dams, and embankments, and archived them in rooms adjoining the ceremonial courtyard. They have found more than 20,000 tablets, providing a mass of information on court life and royal administration.
Some of the most human touches appear in the letters of wives writing to their lords who were away on military campaigns. They provide family news and express affection and respect. This, for example, comes from a queen identified as Shibtu: ‘May my lord beat his enemies and may my master then return to Mari safe and sound with joy in his heart.’
Scribes also recorded affairs of the state, such as imports and exports, and details of censuses taken to assist taxation and military conscription. Although they accompanied the census with an issue of free beer and bread, the tribes of nomads within the city’s frontiers showed a marked reluctance to be counted.
From the mass of tablets, the kings of Mari emerge as responsible and respected administrators. Inscriptions record many appeals for mediation in disputes and countless gifts from loyal subjects. They seem to have firmly maintained public order. One tablet records that they found a child’s mutilated body outside Mari, and a full inquest was promised.
These documents reveal that the main concern of the kings of Mari was the raids of nomads from the Syrian desert: the savage Suteans, most fearsome of all; the Yaminites (or Benjaminites), who were herdsmen like the patriarchs of the Bible; and the Haneans, who were eventually assimilated and provided excellent soldiers.
Yet the unruly nomads did not bring about Mari’s downfall. In Babylon to the south, a new star rose. King Hammurabi became the master of lower Mesopotamia. Much of what is known of his reign comes from Mari’s archives.
A FINAL GESTURE
At first, Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim controlled the entire length of the Euphrates as close allies. But once Hammurabi conquered central and southern Mesopotamia, he began to look north, towards the valuable trade routes leading from Mari to the Mediterranean. The Babylonian monarch suddenly turned on his ally. In 1759 BC, he defeated Zimri-Lim in battle and reduced him to vassalage.
At first, Hammurabi spared Zimri-Lim. Perhaps to reinforce his waning authority, Zimri-Lim ordered artists to paint a large mural on an outer wall of the ceremonial courtyard, near the door to his throne room. On the upper section, the mural depicts the king, draped in an elaborately fringed costume, honored by Ishtar, the goddess of war. Tall panels with stylized trees, birds, and mythical animals framed the mural.
The painting was the most richly ornamented of any found in the palace, but the gesture was in vain. Two years later, Hammurabi marched on Mari, captured it, and destroyed it by fire. Although Assyrians settled the site in the first millennium BC, they had eradicated its significance—the ancient city was never to rise again to its former glory.
Susa emerged as a cultural crossroads between the lowlands of Mesopotamia and the high plateau of Persia. Here, the skills of those living on the plains merged with the vigor of the mountain people to produce a brilliant new civilization.
The ancient Greeks knew Susa as a royal city of the Persian Empire. Before them, the writers of the Old Testament referred to it as the capital of a land called Elam. But Susa’s origins date even further back, to the shadows of prehistory, to an age before literate civilization began.
Today, Susa comprises several large earthen mounds located in the plain of Khuzestan in southwest Iran. Each mound is made up of layers of mud-brick ruins. Mud-brick is a delicate material, and early archaeological investigations did not have the techniques required to identify it. In 1897, a French geologist named Jacques de Morgan began an extensive excavation program in search of the origins of Elamite civilization. While valuable discoveries were made, tons of the precious layers of earth and rubble were removed and discarded. What remains today does not provide a complete picture of the city of Susa, but rather a series of intriguing glimpses into its gradual evolution.
CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION
Susa is located on a lowland plain that is irrigated by rivers flowing from the Iranian plateau. Although it is situated in Iran, it is considered part of Mesopotamia, the broad and fertile valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The rise of urban civilization began in the 6th millennium BC in these rich, alluvial lowlands, as the inhabitants started to control river floods with irrigation schemes. This led to a dramatic increase in agricultural yields and the emergence of specialist crafts such as pottery. Trade expanded, and ambitious construction projects began, with the building of temples marking the beginnings of organized religion. More than 5,000 years ago, the people of Mesopotamia invented writing and went on to establish the first recorded kingdoms and empires.
By 4000 BC, a major urban revolution was in progress and the foundation of Susa dates back to this time. The city was to become the gateway to the Iranian plateau, a hub of trade routes linking the plains and mountains, for several thousand years.
For 300 years after its foundation, Susa developed as the center of a prosperous agricultural region. Funeral items from this early period, excavated from a vast cemetery containing more than 2,000 graves, include copper axes, suggesting an important traffic in the metal. The plain itself had no copper; it must have been brought from the Iranian plateau. The graves also suggest a tradition of fine pottery. The villages surrounding Susaproduced elegantly simple pots painted with stylized birds and animals.
During this period, the inhabitants of the city built an enormous brick terrace, 80m (262ft) square, perhaps designed to carry a great temple. The sheer size of the work implies a strong economy capable of diverting a large workforce from food production to construction. It also suggests the existence of a powerful central authority, though no evidence of a king or ruling hierarchy exists from this time. Stone seals of ownership have been found, so riches are likely to have accumulated in a few private hands. Slim clues like these suggest some kind of civic democracy, but tantalizingly, the evidence stops there. At an unidentified date, the terrace was destroyed.
The next stage in Susa‘s evolution began in about 3700 BC, when its distinctive local pottery was replaced by plain, mass-produced ware which was flooding the Middle East at that time. This sudden new influence can be attributed to the meteoric rise of Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia, where a booming economy began to inspire new forms of art. It was a prelude to more significant developments.
In about 3400 BC, an age of monumental building began at the Sumerian city of Uruk, on the banks of the Euphrates southwest of Susa. Local artists of the time often depicted a priest-king figure, obviously the head of a centralized administration.
Even more revolutionary, clay tablets bearing a form of written language had appeared. Symbols were used to list possessions or record business deals and land sales. Susa felt the influence of Sumer and developed in parallel. The city and its surrounding areas created a separate written language, also recorded on clay tablets. Similarly, a king-like figure begins to appear among the relics of Susa from this period. The figure is depicted on engraved cylindrical seals which were used as stamps of ownership, much like signet rings, in both Susa and Mesopotamia. Despite this suggestion of a monarchy, the economy does not appear to have been centralized. Private merchants and traders probably controlled most of the wealth.
Susa‘s trading community began to take to the roads, setting up distant merchant colonies; there is evidence that merchants from Susa even reached Egypt. But once again, an era of history ended for reasons that have not been identified. In about 3000 BC Susaand its colonies were abandoned.
A MEETING OF CULTURES
The abandonment is thought to have been brief. Excavations indicate that the city was soon reoccupied, and began a long period influenced at first by the hardy, inventive peoples of the Iranian plateau, then by the sophisticated Mesopotamians. Out of this fertile mixture of cultures, the civilization known to the Old Testament authors as Elam eventually emerged.
Initially, the newly occupied city looked to the upland peoples of the plateau, establishing commercial and diplomatic links with the peoples of the Fars region on the southern heights of present-day Iran. Among its new trading partners was a flourishing kingdom centered in the neighboring town of Anshan. Examples of early Elamite writing have been discovered at both Susa and Anshan – distinctive and lively representations of animals impressed on soft clay. The culture of the civilization that produced them, known as Proto-Elamite, survived for some 200 years until a new Mesopotamian upsurge caused Susa to renew its links with the cities to the west. Susa was drawn even more closely into the Mesopotamian fold in about 2300 BC, when the mighty Sargon of Akkad, a warrior king from the north-west, overran the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates and united its kingdoms into a single realm. As a result, the local spoken language was replaced by the Semitic language of the Akkadians.
THE BEGINNINGS OF A NEW KINGDOM
Though politically and culturally part of Mesopotamia, Susa maintained its established trading links. It remained the gateway to the Fars plateau, the hub of the well-trodden routes along which merchants carried precious stones and metals from the hills to the plain.
These routes were reaching ever deeper into Asia, and craftsmen on the Iranian plateau began to produce chlorite and later alabaster wares which were exported over vast distances. The most characteristic items were glazed seals made of steatite (soapstone) with cut-out patterns featuring a cross, an eagle, or a mythological figure. The seals reached Susa along the westerly routes; they have also been found in the steppes of southern Russia, and even as far east as the fringes of China.
Persia’s prosperity was strongly felt by the people of Susa. After their long subjection to Mesopotamia, political and cultural links with the Fars region were restored when the Elamites brought about the downfall of Mesopotamia’s ruling dynasty of Ur in 2004 BC. Susa and Anshan were reunited under one monarch, Kindattu – and the Elamite dynasty began. In about 1950 BC, the ruler’s title of ‘King of Susaand Anshan’ was dropped in favor of ‘Grand Regent’. The heir to the throne at that time was not the king’s son, but his younger brother – the son was the second in line. This sensible arrangement gave the son time to mature, and the in-fighting so often connected in royal houses with the accession of a young heir was thus avoided.
Under the new dynasty, a suburb grew up on the northern outskirts of Susa which has been carefully explored by archaeologists. Houses were grouped in blocks, separated by well-defined streets. Each house had a fireplace, used for cooking and for heating in winter. Most of the houses were fitted with latrines with a drainage course to carry away wastewater, and many of the inhabitants enjoyed the luxury of a bathroom with a terracotta bath. One house contained its own private chapel – a tiny sanctuary housing a huge altar, elaborately decorated with reliefs. Tombs were dug underneath the houses and fitted out with funeral furniture.
LIVING A NOBLE LIFE
The home comforts in the suburb of Susaall speak of modest prosperity, but it seems that the area was gradually adopted by a wealthier aristocracy. Funerary vaults replaced the simple tombs, and imposing buildings began to appear. In the 18th century BC, one of the suburb’s housing blocks was transformed into the residence of a high official known as Temti-wartash. Temti-wartash’s house was a palace. After passing through three vestibules, visitors entered a lavishly tiled courtyard. A palatial doorway led to a reception room with an arched roof supported by four rectangular columns, and the rest of the building was laid out around secondary courtyards.
The records of the master of the house have been found. They mention the royal grants awarded to him, name his farm workers, and list the huge quantities of grain needed to sow his fields. They also reveal his extensive business interests, listing creditors in distant towns. He even had a debtor as far away as Liyan (present-day Bushehr) on the Persian Gulf.
Later, other dignitaries set up residence in the quarter, notably Rabibi, a royal chamberlain. His house, fitted out like Temti-wartash’s, offers a delightful insight into daily life. There were classrooms where children learned the difficult cuneiform script of the period. Their exercises involved copying words, written by the teacher, onto large clay tablets, stored in holes in the ground to keep them cool and malleable.
THE ZIGGURAT OF CHOGHA ZANBIL
The ruined but majestic complex at Chogha Zanbil, built by Untash Napirisha, king of Susa, during the 13th century BC contains the remains of a huge temple dedicated to two gods: Inshushinak of Susa and Napirisha of Anshan. The union of the deities – one of the lowland plain, the other of the high plateau – reflected the twin influences at the heart of Elamite civilization.
The temple was built in two phases, almost as if its royal patron changed his mind after the first phase was complete. Workers began by constructing a huge courtyard,
100m (328ft) square, paved with unbaked brick. In the walls around it, vaulted chambers enclosed two sanctuaries and storage rooms for grain, jars, and building materials. Each of the walls had a central door.
After a time, the king decided to transform the building into a towering ziggurat – the tapering, terraced temple characteristic of all Mesopotamian civilizations. The brick-paved central courtyard was ripped up and the debris used to fill the vaulted rooms in its walls. Only one of the two sanctuaries was preserved. The original construction became the first floor of the new ziggurat. Three more stories were built up within the courtyard, each constructed of unbaked mud bricks, with a casing of hard, baked brick, and a final outer layer of crushed baked brick.
The facade glittered with glazed blue and green terracotta. An internal staircase lead to a temple on the top floor, some 44m (144ft) up, decorated with glass and ivory mosaics. Piles of bricks at the site indicate that further building was intended when, in 640 BC, the Assyrian king Assurbanipal attacked the complex, precipitating its fall into ruins.
Family vaults beneath the aristocratic houses have yielded numerous funerary items. To preserve the identity of the dead, portraits modeled from clay were painted and placed beside the corpse’s head. They seek to capture the likeness of the subject – unusual in the Middle East at a time when portraits usually conformed to conventional stereotypes. The most remarkable of them shows a man with a square-cut, fringed Elamite hairstyle. His doleful expression evokes the rough and ready peasant stock of a people living close to the mountains.
Women are shown smiling faintly and wearing their hair plaited in a diadem. Small terracotta figures of naked women, probably from the same period, were excavated from the streets. They were broken when found. Pregnant women probably wore them as a charm, throwing them away once they had delivered their child. Couples intertwined in their beds and mothers suckling babies were also represented – imagery designed to encourage bigger families and, indirectly, a larger city.
LINKING THE TRADITIONS
Susa and Anshan gradually drifted apart, but in the 13th century BC the new Anzanite dynasty restored the union. Its princes declared ‘expansionist’ aims.
For hundreds of years, only the Semitic Akkadian script had been used at Susa. But the new kings had their inscriptions drawn up in the language of Anshan, as well as in Akkadian. It was a clear statement of pride in the traditions of the plateau.
Little is known about the greatest king of the line, Untash-Napirisha (c.1275-1240 BC), except for his great building program. He also embellished Susa with masterpieces of metalwork. The most important surviving relic is a life-sized headless statue of his queen, Napirasu. Even without its head, this cast bronze figure weighs 1,750kg (almost 2 tons) – the largest metal statue ever found in the Middle East. But an even more impressive memorial to his reign is the temple and palace complex which he built for himself about 30km (18/2 miles) south-east of Susa. This testament to his majesty was called Al-Untash-Napirisha, now known as Chogha Zanbil, which lies on the edge of a plateau dominating the river Ab-e Dez.
The approach to the complex was by the river, then through the royal gate which also served as a law court (the custom in the Middle East). Within the first enclosure, several palaces were built for the use of the royal family. Below one palace were the tombs in which the king and his family would be buried. Banquets were held at each funeral, and the bodies were cremated. Not far from this funeral palace was a temple dedicated to Nusku, the Mesopotamian god of light and fire. The high altar of the temple was exposed to the sky – it was possibly a cremation site, and certainly a center of fire worship. Inside the walls of the first enclosure, a second enclosure housed the temples of various Elamite gods, and within, a third enclosure housed the major temples, including the sanctuary of the great gods Inshushinak, patron of Susa, and Napirisha, patron of the Anshan uplands.
The goddess wives of the two major deities also had temples dedicated to them. They were fully recognized alongside the gods, a tradition mirrored in the mortal world – Elamite women occupied powerful positions in both government and religion.
THE HUNT FOR TROPHIES
Not long after the construction of Al-Untash-Napirisha, the Elamite kingdom passed through a brief period of crisis. Then, in the 12th century BC, a new dynasty cast its eyes on distant horizons to restore the realm’s prestige.
To the west, the Babylonian dynasty of the Kassites had been ruling for almost 500 years. The new Elamite king, Shutruk Nahhunte, overthrew the dynasty and captured an immense haul of booty. He returned to Susa with statues, monuments, and a host of other trophies.
The new dynasty abandoned Al-Untash-Napirisha and set up a number of the captured monuments in Susaitself, where new temples were built in a distinctive style. The outer walls were made of glazed and molded bricks, which depicted royal couples and the guardian spirits of the buildings. Only fragments of the bricks have been found, but a curious bronze model showing a religious ceremony has survived intact. It depicts two figures taking part in a ritual, and an inscription reveals that it illustrates the ceremony of the Rising Sun – Sit Shamshi. The ritual takes place between two temples, probably those of Inshushinak and his wife at Susa. Offerings have been placed around the larger of the temples, beside some raised stones. Trees nearby indicate the existence of a sacred grove.
The piece suggests yet more unexpected affinities, in this case with the Semitic peoples of the Biblical lands far to the north-west: Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. Though the temples are Elamite in style, the simple raised stones recall those worshipped as idols by the Canaanites. The wooded grove was revered by the Semites, who held all green trees sacred, and a miniature vase in the sculpture is similar to an item found in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
RELICS OF THE DEAD Underground tombs beside the temple of the god Inshushinak in Susa contain the cremated remains of the royal dead. Partially burnt furniture has been
found in these vaults, but the remains of precious gold and silver leaf bear witness to their original splendor. Statuettes of precious metals have also been discovered. Toys and games similar to modern solitaire had been buried there, too. Ancient relics from earlier eras have also been preserved: stamp seals and cylinder seals, which were already more than 2,000 years old; and exotic axe heads. These relics, imported from eastern Persia, seem to have been placed in the tombs to reinforce the monarchy’s claim to descent from the woman known as the Gracious Mother, the wife of the first Elamite king, Kindattu, who had reunited Anshan and Susa at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Safe in the vault, they survived the holocaust to come.
A LAND OF ASHES AND DUST
At the end of the 12th century BC the Babylonians recovered their supremacy and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Elamites. The ancient civilization crumbled as its enemies set it alight. The scale of the fire is almost unimaginable: a thick layer of ash covers the whole of the site of Susa a terrible reminder of the size of the conflagration which ended Elam’s most glorious period. Darkness fell over the conquered lands for some 400 years, and Elam never fully recovered. During those years, dramatic changes were to transform the Middle East completely.
In about 1000 BC, the plateau was engulfed by a wave of Aryan peoples from the Caucasus, from whom Iran derives its name. The Aryans founded the first Persian kingdom at Anshan. Meanwhile, a new power was rising in Mesopotamia – the empire of the Assyrians. Caught between these two power blocs, Elam’s fallen civilization was doomed.
At the end of the 8th century BC, an ambitious king of Susa called Shutter Nahunta revived some of the splendor of the metropolis, and for a few decades, its citizens enjoyed an uneasy peace through alliances first with Assyria, then with Persia. But it was not to last. In 646 BC, the Elamite capital was devastated once more, this time by the merciless ruler of Assyria, Assurbanipal (669-627 BC). Susa was looted, its royal tombs desecrated, and the images of its gods and kings were taken away.
But Susa refused to die. The Persians rebuilt the city in the 6th century BC, and it became the administrative capital of their empire. Later, in 331 BC, it fell to Alexander the Great.
It continued its role as a trade center until gradual decline set in during the late Middle Ages, reducing it into a cluster of deserted hillocks overlooking the barren plain of Khuzestan. But in one way the site preserved its history across thousands of years – it has retained its ancient name, in the form of Shush, from the time of the first written records until today.
Çatal Hüyüka mysterious mound excavated in Turkey in the 1960s was to revolutionize archaeological thinking. For a large community had flourished on the ancient site 2000 years before the onset of civilization in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
IN 1961 A TEAM OF BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGISTS led by James Mallart travelled to the Konya plain in Anatolia, to a site about 320km (200 miles) south of the Turkish capital, Ankara. The purpose of the expedition was to excavate an artificial mound, known in Turkey as a Hüyük, which rose beside the Caramba river more than 1,000m (3,281ft) above sea level.
As the digging proceeded, it became clear that this man-made hill – Çatal Hüyük – was the site of the largest, most important, and most fascinating Neolithic (Late Stone Age) settlement ever discovered in the Middle East. There were substantial dwelling-houses, cult-centers or shrines, and evidence of arts and crafts, and of extensive trade – mostly in local produce and artefacts, but also in more exotic articles. Initially, radiocarbon dating placed the foundation of the settlement between 6250 and 5400 BC. But using a method called dendrochronology, counting rings in tree trunks to double-check radiocarbon dating, it became clear that it was established even earlier – between 7200 and 7100 BC.
A STONE AGE COMMUNITY
Çatal Hüyükconsists, in fact, of two separate eastern and western mounds, divided by a branch of the “River Caramba”. Archaeologists have concentrated on the Neolithic eastern mound; the settlement shifted to the western mound in the succeeding Chalcolithic period. Only a small section of the 13ha (32 acre) eastern mound was excavated between 1961 and 1965, but since 1993 a large international team has expanded the investigations.
At the time of its discovery, Çatal Hüyükwas unique. In recent years, similar contemporary sites have been discovered, including Umm Dabaghiyah in northern Iraq, Zagheh in northern Iran, Bouqras and Abu Hureyra in Syria, and Can Hasan, Suberde, and Erbaba in Turkey itself. But none of these settlements has shown quite the cultural and technical achievements of Çatal Hüyük-the site which gave archaeologists the first, tantalizing glimpse of an early farming settlement whose people cultivated cereals, crafted religious figurines, and traded with distant communities.
Mellaart’s excavations of the eastern mound uncovered one complete block of houses and shrines, part of another, similar block, and part of a third block which contained only houses. To the 1960s team, the shrines – rooms cluttered with relics such as bulls’ horns and statuettes – seemed clearly distinguishable from the houses. But recent investigations have shown that most houses had domestic areas with hearths, beds, and storage bins in their southern section, and ritual features such as elaborate wall decoration in the northern section.
LIVING IN A MUD-BRICK MAZE
Each mud-brick house was surrounded by walls built directly up against its neighboring buildings. It remained detached, though, and so could be demolished and rebuilt easily. Clusters of box-like, rectangular houses formed vast blocks, like cells in a honeycomb, interspersed with courtyards. A system of gutters molded from plaster took the rainwater off the roof into the nearest courtyard and kept the house dry. There were no streets, so there were no front doors – houses were entered via the roof.
The reasons for using this method of building remain a puzzle. Evidence from other settlements in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and elsewhere in Turkey suggests that roof-entry may have been widespread in the Middle East in the 8th and 7th millennia BC. It may have been the best way to protect food and portable property from scavenging animals and light- fingered neighbors.
THE DAILY ROUND
Hundreds of everyday domestic objects were found in Çatal Huyuk’s houses and tombs – homely items that give a vivid insight into the daily life of the settlement. The majority of the objects are carved out of wood or bone, or fashioned from clay. Particularly fascinating are several little bone spatulas, carved in the form of a fork, which the women used to apply make-up to their faces. Archaeologists also discovered wooden kitchenware in the form of large dishes with handles, plates, and bowls. Food was cooked in tall, double-handled clay pots which were placed directly on the hearth or put into an oven to bake their contents,
There are 14 known levels of building in Çatal Hüyük, spanning 800 years of cultural development, yet the basic design of the houses remains virtually unchanged throughout that period. Each house consisted of a main room, generally measuring about 6m (20ft) by 4m (13ft), with a storeroom along one side. On the roof was a small, ramshackle extra story built of sticks and plaster which served as additional storage space and as a porch.
Wooden stairs or a ladder led from the roof to the kitchen area positioned at the southern end of the house. This consisted of a hearth or ovens and a fuel store.
Cooking pots were kept in holes in the floor, and smoke escaped through a hole in the roof. Some of the pots contained ancient ‘pot-boilers’ – stones heated in the fire then dropped into the pots to cook their contents.
Reed matting covered the center of the floor. On two sides of the room, at the northern end, raised platforms covered with mats served as sofas and workbenches during the day and as beds at night. The discovery of traces of material suggests that felt was used to make bedding. The platforms had one further use they also acted as family sepulchers.
The plaster surface of platforms was broken open to allow the burial of bones beneath them, 1.5m to 1.8m (5ft to 6ft) below the surface. The dead were buried with funerary gifts such as armlets, bracelets, copper beads, necklaces, obsidian mirrors, and weapons, as well as a wide variety of baskets and wooden vessels, which suggests a belief in life after death.
Their bodies were laid to rest in a contracted position inside the platform, which was then plastered over again. More than half of the bodies found at Çatal Hüyükwere of young children. Each platform seems to have been the burial place of a nuclear family. In several cases the latest burial was of a mature adult male whose interment was followed by the abandonment of the house, which probably then became an ancestral shrine.
THE DOMESTICATION OF THE HUNTER-GATHERER
The contents of each house were generally the same: the remains of food and matting; vessels made of pottery, wood, and occasionally stone; and beads, tools, and weapons made of obsidian – a glassy and extremely hard volcanic rock – or, more rarely, from flint.
The people of Çatal Hüyükkept domesticated dogs to guard their houses and, as one wall-painting shows, for sheep herding and for hunting. Human teeth from the site indicate that meat made up a large part of their diet; there is little evidence of the worn teeth that are prevalent among people who subsist mainly on cereals. The meat came from domestic stock and wild game. The number of bones found suggests of oxen. Copper and lead also came from the Taurus Mountains. The obsidian used for implements such as arrowheads and knife-blades came from Cappadocia to the north-east. Sea-shells from the Mediterranean were also found at the site, along with Syrian flints, and a fragment of Syrian pottery.
The Çatal Hüyükcraftsmen used many other materials not available in the local environment – they must have imported pigments such as red and yellow ochre; hard stone for toolmaking; limestone, shale, and aragonite; and minerals such as carnelian and blue and green apatite, which were fashioned into beads.
These finds are evidence of trade with faraway places. The discovery of Çatal Hüyük pottery in Cilicia, 160km (100 miles) to the south-east, suggests that the cultural influence of the settlement extended well beyond the Konya plain, perhaps even into the mountains surrounding it, across an area that may have been as large as 30,000km2 (11,580 sq miles). that mutton was their main protein, supplemented by other meats and fish. From wall-paintings as well as bones, it is clear that the Çatal Hüyükresidents hunted wild goats, horses, and cattle, as well as wild boar and deer. Leopards, onagers (a species of wild ass), lions, gazelles, bears, and even wild cats were tracked down and killed for their skins.
Deposits of grain of different types suggest a fairly advanced system of cultivation and a variety of cereal foods. Grain was sometimes made into bread, but was more commonly served toasted, or in soup. The farmers also grew vegetables, and there is evidence that they processed oil from a type of mustard seed called shepherd’s purse.
Foods eaten regularly included acorns, capers, crab apples, grapes, pistachios, and walnuts, gathered from swampy areas near the settlement and the forests on the edge of the Konya plain. Recent excavations have revealed that tubers were also an important element of their diet, including the marsh Scirpus, a bulrush that grew locally.
DIVERSE TRADE WITH DISTANT LANDS
Apart from food, the Konya plain had few natural resources beyond reeds and clay. Virtually everything else was imported. Timber – juniper, oak, and pine – was probably floated down the Çarsamba river from the Taurus Mountains about 80km (50 miles) to the south, then hauled to the settlement by teams.
THE ROLE OF RITUAL IMAGERY
It seems likely that the stability of the community at Çatal Hüyük, and its links with other communities, owed much to a common religion. The shrines in the houses were elaborately decorated in three ways: with wall-paintings, plaster reliefs (frequently painted), and silhouettes etched into the plaster.
The wall-paintings range from simple red panels and geometric patterns to complex designs featuring symbolic figures and human hand shapes. Others depict vultures hovering over human corpses, a man defending himself from a vulture, a man carrying two human heads, a deer hunt, and an erupting volcano with a settlement in the foreground. Two of the shrines show bull-baiting and hunting dances.
The plaster reliefs explore a limited number of themes, which are frequently repeated. The most common figure is that of a goddess shown in the posture of childbirth, with her legs and arms lifted. Birth is a recurrent motif: there is a large female figure giving birth to a bull’s head, and next to it is another female giving birth to a ram’s head. In this second relief, three superimposed bulls’ heads appear below the ram’s head. Whether these represent previous births, or the ‘heraldic’ supporters of the goddess, is still not clear.
Bulls’ heads appear in a great many of the buildings. In some cases, their horns are real; in others they are molded out of clay and plaster. The bull almost certainly represents the male element which, in the reliefs, is never portrayed in human form. The female element is represented in various forms apart from the figure of the goddess. Some figures are pregnant; others are slim and elegant. One particularly skillful image represents a woman whose arms and legs fit into sockets, like a child’s doll. Many of the figures have no faces, suggesting that masks or headdresses may have been hung on pegs above the heads.
The third form of decoration, the silhouette style, depicts bulls, deer heads with antlers in profile, wild boars, and cows. Bulls’ heads also appear with offerings laid beneath them, ranging from precious objects and weapons to cuts of meat and, in one case, a human head in a basket. An exact interpretation of this religious imagery is impossible. In general terms it seems to celebrate the cycle of birth and death, a theme maintained in carrying two human heads, a deer hunt, and an erupting volcano with a settlement in the foreground. Two of the shrines show bull-baiting and hunting dances.
The plaster reliefs explore a limited number of themes, which are frequently repeated. The most common figure is that of a goddess shown in the posture of childbirth, with her legs and arms lifted. Birth is a recurrent motif: there is a large female figure giving birth to a bull’s head, and next to it is another female giving birth to a ram’s head. In this second relief, three superimposed bulls’ heads appear below the ram’s head.
Whether these represent previous births, or the ‘heraldic’ supporters of the goddess, is still not clear.
Bulls’ heads appear in a great many of the buildings. In some cases their horns are real; in others they are molded out of clay and plaster. The bull almost certainly represents the male element which, in the reliefs, is never portrayed in human form. The female element is represented in various forms apart from the figure of the goddess. Some figures are pregnant; others are slim and elegant. One particularly skillful image represents a woman whose arms and legs fit into sockets, like a child’s doll. Many of the figures have no faces, suggesting that masks or headdresses may have been hung on pegs above the heads.
The third form of decoration, the silhouette style, depicts bulls, deer heads with antlers in profile, wild boars, and cows. Bulls’ heads also appear with offerings laid beneath them, ranging from precious objects and weapons to cuts of meat and, in one case, a human head in a basket. An exact interpretation of this religious imagery is impossible. In general terms it seems to celebrate the cycle of birth and death, a theme maintained in ritual objects found at the site. Small statuettes – most less than 20cm (8in) tall and made of stone, though some are of baked clay – depict gods and demigods. They were found in the shrines, placed in groups, obviously to suggest some kind of connection between each set of figures. Several statuettes represent a bearded man, probably a god of hunting, sitting astride crudely carved animals. But the most remarkable sculpture is of the female deity seated on an animal throne, giving birth to a human child. The richness of the ritual imagery at Çatal Hüyük hints at a high level of religious consciousness. Its nameless deities are the prototypes of later Anatolian gods and goddesses associated with birds, leopards, bulls, and deer.
MAKING A MARK ON HISTORY
So where did Çatal Hüyük‘s original settlers come from? On the south coast of Anatolia, traces have been found of the late Paleolithic (Early Stone Age) culture that preceded the civilization of Çatal Hüyük.
In the caves of Kara’In, Öküzlü’In, and the rock shelter of Beldibi, there are wall-paintings and engravings of bulls, deer, ibex, and small human figures which may be the precursors of the art at Çatal Hüyük. It is possible that the first builders of Çatal Hüyükabandoned these caves and journeyed up to the plateau to found a new settlement.
The region continued to prosper for several thousand years. During the Early Bronze Age, there was a great increase in the number of settlements established in the Konya plain.
By 3000 BC, cities began to emerge, but by then the descendants of the Çatal Hüyükpeople had moved on to other sites. Strangely, shortly before 2000 BC, the region was virtually abandoned. A tiny trace of the Çatal Hüyükculture does, however, survive to this day.
The simple geometric patterns painted on the walls of the Çatal Hüyükhouses – layers of red panels, with the imprints of human hands can be seen in six modern villages near Çatal Hüyük: a creative idea which, astonishingly, has survived for 9,000 years.
Discovering the past is unique way to try unleashed all ancient and vanished data which disappear from our eyes.
Searching For Sites
Many archaeological sites are visible as ruins – others are lost, submerged beneath the surface of the landscape.
Sophisticated techniques are now used to pinpoint buried remains and identify areas likely to yield hidden treasures.
A bird’s eye view
Sites long since invisible from the ground often become obvious when photographed from the air. Aerial photography reveals ridges and hollows, subtle variations in the colour or texture of soil, and differences in vegetation particularly in cereal crops – which may mark the outlines of buried buildings, ditches, fields, and canals.
Scientists use radar and satellite photography to locate sites in difficult terrain such as the rain forests of Central America, where Maya canals and raised field systems have recently been revealed.
Prospecting with electricity, magnetism, and sound
If archaeologists suspect that remains lie hidden beneath land or sea, they can pinpoint them using devices that measure the changes in electro- magnetic effects. On land, changes in the soil’s resistance to the flow of electricity can be measured by passing a current through electrodes placed in the ground. The intensity of the current varies according to the resistance of the material through which the current flows.
Since stone offers more resistance than soil, high resistance may indicate the presence of walls. Another device – a magnetometer – measures distortions in the magnetic field, which varies clearly where an object made of materials such as iron or burnt clay is buried. Sonar devices are also widely used, particularly in underwater reconnaissance. The sonar uses transmitted and returned acoustic waves to locate archaeological sites such as shipwrecks through murky waters and thick sediments impervious to other detection devices.
Probes and Periscopes
In 1955 an Italian engineer, Carlo Lerici, devised a periscope that was to revolutionize Etruscan archaeology. Little was known about the Etruscans, who dominated central Italy between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. Although their artefacts
were usually buried with them in thousands of tombs, most had been looted and were empty – something usually discovered only after a tomb had been identified and opened.
Lerici’s periscope could find out whether a burial chamber was worth excavating. Once a tomb had been identified, scientists drilled a small hole into it, lowered the periscope, and studied the interior before excavation – even taking photographs of it. By the mid-1970s, scientists had used the probe to examine some 7,000 tombs, while opening only 600.
Probes are now widely used – for example, in locating and examining hundreds of pits in the burial complex that also includes the terracotta warriors at Mount Li in China, and to reveal a wooden boat buried in a trench beside the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt.
Traces of the past
One method of research requires no special equipment other than a sharp eye and archaeological expertise. Occasionally, construction workers in the ancient world used stones from older, dilapidated structures when building new ones. Such stones are likely to be out of style with the rest of the new building, and suggest the existence nearby of ruined structures which may be buried.
Anomalies in the present-day layout of buildings or field boundaries are sometimes evidence of earlier buildings and settlements. These are created where builders have avoided earlier structures that have since disappeared. Documents such as parish registers and old maps may also provide clues about these features.
DATING WITH ACCURACY
Since the middle of the 20th century, scientists have been able to establish the dates of archaeological discoveries with increasing accuracy. Methods range from investigating atomic particles to consulting the growth rings of the bristlecone pine.
Unleashing Ancient Energy
Ancient clay objects can be dated by measuring an effect known as thermoluminescence. After a clay pot is fired, crystals within its structure develop impurities through the process of ionization, in which electrons are stripped from the atoms of the minerals within the clay. These free electrons remain locked inside the crystals.
In thermoluminescence-dating the pot is once again subjected to fierce heat – effectively a second firing – until the trapped electrons emit photons, particles of light, which can be counted. Their number gives an idea of the age of the object – the older the pot, the more free electrons it contains. The technique also works on burnt flint.
A technique known as electron-spin resonance dating, which works on the same principle, is now being applied to other materials such as bones and tooth enamel, and has been used to date a number of early hominid teeth back to 250,000 years ago. Optical luminescence dating, another related technique, measures exposure to sunlight, and is used to date ancient sedimentary deposits containing archaeological remains.
Radioactive Remains
Carbon 14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon that occurs naturally and is absorbed by all living things. When a living thing dies (and stops absorbing carbon 14), the carbon 14 decays at a known rate – halving every 5,730 years (accurate to 30 years either way). By measuring the proportion of carbon 14 in organic remains such as bone or wood with a Geiger counter or a more modern tool – an accelerator mass spectrometer – a date of death can be calculated. The spectrometer’s accuracy diminishes with the age of the object, but it can date remains up to 50,000 years old.
Secrets in the Trees
Trees preserve a yearly record of seasonal changes in their annual growth rings. The thickness of the rings varies according to the effects of rainfall, sunlight, and temperature. Trees growing in a single area record the same conditions.
By overlapping the rings of trees of different ages – even if the trees are dead, as in wooden beams from buildings – climatic calendars can be created. These allow wooden artefacts and ancient building timber to be dated accurately.
Dendrochronology was pioneered in the south-western USA. Climatic calendars created from the bristlecone pine of the American west have been dramatically successful. These pines live for up to 3,000 years, and with them scientists have built a record stretching back almost 8,000 years. Dendrochronology has been used to double-check carbon dating. Its climatic records highlight fluctuations in atmospheric carbon 14, and provide data to correct inaccurate radiocarbon dates.
DIGGING UP THE PAST
Sites are recorded in three dimensions as successive cultures leave evidence in uneven but distinct layers, often cut through vertically by features such as walls or ditches. An analysis of the layers reveals the history of the site through the ages.
SIFTING THROUGH THE STRATA
The remains of older cultures generally lie beneath those of more recent people. By studying the strata of successive cultures, archaeologists determine their sequence.
These strata are of irregular thickness and extent, depending on what they represent-such as accumulations of domestic rubbish, the rubble from demolished building, man-made floors and roads, or soil resulting from natural erosion. The layers are usually dated by then age of the material contained within them.
Vertical features-upright structures such as walls, as well as pits and holes-will cut across the horizontal deposits into layers above and below. Such features will belong to the same era as deposits in the layer relating to them such as one containing the base of a wall or the top of a pit.
AN EXCAVATION IN PROGRESS
To reveal buried objects, workers first remove the topsoil, which is set aside and usually replaced when the excavation is complete. Next, archaeologists set up a grid of markers and string to record the positions of everything the find. The layers of the site are than carefully removed, in order.
Often only a sample portion of an extensive layers is dug, while smaller features, such as hearths, are cut in half excavated in their entirety. Fragle objects such as bones and jewelry are easily damaged-uncovering them requires infinite patience, and the use of precision tools such as dental picks and small brushes. Tiny shells, seeds, and other items too small to spot with the naked eye are recovered using wet sieving combined with fictions techniques. Meticulous plans, drawings, and written notes record the location and context of each find before its removal-information that is vital to enable an accurate reconstruction of daily life on the site.
AFTER THE DIG
Most of the material discovered on a site is sent to laboratory for careful cleaning and treatment-allowing the investigation of tiny residues of food or other material left on the surface of tools containers, which reveals what they were used for.
Conversation is also undertaken to stabilize or restore decaying of broken objects. An army specialist than sets to work analyzing the finds-from pottery, metalwork, human bones, and animal remains to microfauna and plant remains-in order to extract every scrap of information that could shed light on life at the site, and its relationship to the local landscape and the wider world.
MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY
When Jacques Cousteau and Émile Gagnan invented scuba gear in 1943, marine archaeology became a real possibility. The first to put it to use were a team under the American George Bass, who excavated a Bronze Age shipwreck off Cape Gelidonya in Turkey in 1960. Since then, many wrecks and other underwater sites across the world have yielded up their secrets.
LOOKING BENEATH THE WAVES
Researchers investigating drowned settlements, submerged harbours, and shipwrecks use scuba gear in shallow waters and submersibles for deeper work. Remotely controlled submersibles can work in deep sea locations impenetrable by humans – they were used in the investigation of the Titanic and the recovery of material from the ship.
Underwater excavation often presents problems: poor visibility; currents disturbing sediments, equipment, and finds; and the physical limitations on the time investigators can spend under the water. As in land excavations, it is extremely important to record the position of finds. Measurements can be made from grids fixed to the seabed or suspended from a ship above, though these can be difficult to keep in position.
Making detailed plans of marine excavations is far easier today than in the past. Instead of hand-drawn plans, overlapping photographs are taken. These are used to create a mosaic which gives an accurate record of excavated structures or vessels. Video cameras, operated directly or from a remotely controlled submersible, can also be used to create a precise photographic record. The pictures can be manipulated by computers to produce not only plans, but three-dimensional reconstructions.
A new method of accurately recording the position of underwater sites uses GPS – the global positioning system. GPS receivers pick up signals transmitted by satellites in orbit around the Earth. The time lapse between the transmission and receipt of a signal is used to determine an exact position, regardless of bad weather and difficult conditions at sea.
UNDERWATER EXCAVATIONS
The difficulties of recording underwater finds are often balanced by the ease of excavation. In land excavations, soil has to be laboriously dug or scraped away and then removed, but sediments in underwater sites can often be shifted simply by a gentle fanning of the excavator’s hand. The underwater equivalent of the pick and spade is the suction dredger, a machine which sucks up the overburden of mud and sand through its maneuverable nozzle without clouding the surrounding water.
Small objects are placed in a bag or box and taken to the surface by divers. Larger objects are raised with the help of cables, flotation bags, and balloons. The timbers of wrecked ships are often badly decayed, but can be recorded in minute detail by using latex rubber to make moulds of the surviving fragments. Some well-preserved wrecks have been raised to the surface in specially constructed cradles. Underwater sites often yield a wealth of organic remains, from massive timbers to tiny seeds, which will begin to decay when brought to the surface; the work needed to preserve them may involve expenses far greater than those of the excavation itself.