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Catalhoyuk Archaeobotanical Archive Report
1997
www.escholarship.org/uc/item/2mw0z214 November vc& 19bulk soil collection strategy (samples taken from one discrete location), targeted at 30 liters when possible. In units containing midden or other secondary, mixed soil matrices, a scatter sample was requested in addition to the bulk sample. In certain excavation units that spanned a large horizontal space, (primarily floor contexts) several bulk samples from the same unit were taken for flotation. These were taken at one meter intervals across the unit. Botanical material was also systematically collected from the 4 mm sieves that allowed for extraction of the artefacts from all excavated matrix. Units with special botanical material were sampled individually after consultatation with us. Although the majority of the samples will be processed in the laboratoyr at U. C. Berkeley, some preliminary sorting was carried out during the field season. Forty five samples were selected as priorities and examined for their botanical content at the 4 and 2 mm levels. From this analysis it is possible to discuss particular units with other specialists in the field. Samples varied dramatically from unit to unit with densities of botanical material ranging from 1-250 mg per liter of sediment. The diversity of samples was also variable and it is hoped that further analyisis of these samples will result in the observation of patterning related to various contexts. The heavy residue portion of the flotation samples were collected and sorted by a team of two trained students and 11 local women throughout the 1997 season. Some remaining residues from 1995 and 1996 samples as well as the 1997 samples were completed. In all, over 800 heavy residue samples were sorted. Charred botanical remains are common in the residues and are typically of a range of the more dense materials (charred wood, pulses, chaff and mineralized remains. Finds were weighed and distributed through the finds labs to the various specialists. Botanical material from this sorting and the light residues have been shipped to the archaeobotanay laboratory at the University of California for analysis and distribution of other botanical specialists. Work already completed from the 1997 priority samples illuminates some interesting results. In the North Area, Building 1, two units from post holes contained quantities of remains which led to the interpretation that specific plants may have been deposited intentionally before the posts were placed in the holes. One of these possible ritual deposits contained barley grains and another seed that is found typically as a weed in modem disturbed habitats. Another interesting result from this season was that the fills from nearby buildings in the Mellaart area were dissimilar, indicating that both the type of dumping and the origin of dumped material varies in lvcations that are spatially near each
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