Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-hw7sx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T09:01:44.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The use of local fibres for textiles at Neolithic Çatalhöyük

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2021

Antoinette Rast-Eicher ,
Sabine Karg  and
Lise Bender Jørgensen
Antoinette Rast-Eicher*
Affiliation:
ArcheoTex and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Sabine Karg
Affiliation:
Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Lise Bender Jørgensen
Affiliation:
Department of Historical and Classical Studies, NTNU Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim, Norway
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ antoinette.rast@iaw.unibe.ch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Woven textiles from Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia are among the earliest-known examples of weaving in the Near East and Europe. Studies of material excavated in the 1960s identified the fibres as flax. New scanning electron microscope analysis, however, shows these fibres—and others from more recent excavations at the site—to be made from locally sourced oak bast. This result is consistent with the near absence of flax seeds at Çatalhöyük, and suggests there was no need for the importation of fibres from elsewhere; it also questions the date at which domesticated flax was first used for fibres. These findings shed new light on early textile production in the Neolithic, suggesting that tree bast played a more significant role than previously recognised.

Keywords

ÇatalhöyükTurkeyNeolithicSEM analysistextilesplant fibres

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 95 , Issue 383 , October 2021 , pp. 1129 - 1144
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alfaro, C. 2012. Textiles from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Tell Halula (Euphrates Valley, Syria). Paléorient 38: 1–2 & 41–54. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2012.5457Google Scholar
Asouti, E. 2005. Woodland vegetation and the exploitation of fuel and timber at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Inhabiting Çatalhöyük. Reports from the 1995–1999 seasons. Çatalhöyük Research Project volume 4: 213–60. Cambridge & Ankara: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and the British Institute at Ankara.Google Scholar
Ayala, G. & Wainwright, J.. 2020. Çatalhöyük and its landscapes. Near Eastern Archaeology 83: 88–97. https://doi.org/10.1086/709176CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 2020. The Neolithic revolution in the Fertile Crescent and the origins of fibre technology, in Schier, W. & Pollock, S. (ed.) Proceedings of the TOPOI (Berlin) workshop: the competition of fibres. Textile production in Western Asia and Europe (5000–2000 BCE): 5–15. Oxford & Philadelphia (PA): Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13pk7d6.8Google Scholar
Bayliss, A. & Tung, B.. 2017. Chapter 26. Çatalhöyük East: assessment of the potential for scientific dating of Neolithic deposits in the north area. Çatalhöyük 2017 archive report: 317–32. Available at: http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2017 (accessed 4 June 2021).Google Scholar
Bayliss, A., Brock, F., Farid, S., Hodder, I. & Southron, J. & Taylor, R.E.. 2015. Getting to the bottom of it all: a Bayesian approach to dating the start of Çatalhöyük. Journal of World Prehistory 28: 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-015-9083-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender Jørgensen, L. & Rast-Eicher, A.. 2017. Cordage, basketry, textiles and hides. Çatalhöyük 2017 archive report: 181–84. Available at www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2017 (accessed 4 June 2021).Google Scholar
Bender Jørgensen, L., Rast-Eicher, A. & Wendrich, W.. 2021. Textiles, cordage and basketry from Çatalhöyük, in Hodder, I. (ed.) The matter of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2009–2017 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project volume 14: 265–86. Ankara: British Institute at Ankara.Google Scholar
Bergfjord, C., Karg, S., Rast-Eicher, A., Nosch, M.-L., Mannering, U., Allaby, R.G., Murphy, B.M. & Holst, B.. 2010. Comment on ‘30,000-year-old wild flax fibers’. Science 328: 1634. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1186345CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogaard, A., Charles, M., Livarda, A., Ergum, M., Filipovíc, D. & Jones, G.. 2013. The archaeobotany of mid–later occupation layers at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Humans and landscapes of Çatalhöyük, reports from the 2000–2008 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project volume 8: 93–128. Ankara & Los Angeles (CA): British Institute at Ankara & Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Bogaard, A., Filipovíc, D., Fairbairn, A., Grenn, L., Stroud, E., Fuller, D. & Charles, M.. 2017. Agricultural innovation and resilience in a long-lived early farming community: the 1500-year sequence at Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia. Antatolian Studies 67: 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0066154617000072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, H.B. 1965. Çatal Hüyük—the textiles and twined fabrics. Anatolian Studies 15: 169–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/3642509CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cessford, C., et al. 2005. Absolute dating at Çatalhöyük, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Changing materialities at Çatalhöyük. Report from the 1995–99 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project volume 5: 65–100. Cambridge & Ankara: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research & British Institute in Ankara.Google Scholar
Çilingiroğlu, C. 2009. Of stamps, loom weights and spindle whorls: contextual evidence on the function(s) of Neolithic stamps from Ulucak, Izmir, Turkey. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22: 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v22i1.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Capitani, A., Deschler-Erb, S., Leuzinger, U., Marti-Grädel, E. & Schibler, J.. 2002. Die Jungsteinzeitliche Seeufersiedlung Arbon-Bleiche 3, Funde. Frauenfeld: Amt für Archäologie des Kantons Thurgau.Google Scholar
Diederichsen, A. & Hammer, K.. 1995. Variation of domesticated flax (Linum usitatissimum L. subsp. usitatissimum) and its wild progenitor pale flax (subsp. angustifolium (Huds.) Thell.). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 42: 263–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02431261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbairn, A., Near, J. & Martinoli, D.. 2005. Macrobotanical investigation of the north, south and KOPAL area excavations at Çatalhöyük East, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Inhabiting Çatalhöyük. Reports from the 1995–99 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project volume 5: 137–202. Cambridge & Ankara: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research & British Institute in Ankara.Google Scholar
Filipović, D. 2014. Early farming in central Anatolia: an archaeobotanical study of crop husbandry, animal diet and land use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2667). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Fuller, D., Bogaard, A., Charles, M. & Filipović, D.. 2014. Macro- and micro-botanical remains from the 2013 and 2014 season. Çatalhöyük 2014 archive report : 118–29.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. & Harris, S.. 2018. The first plant bast fibre technology: identifying splicing in archaeological textiles. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11: 2329–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0677-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helbæk, H. 1963: Textiles from Çatal Hüyük. Archaeology 16: 39–46.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. 2013. 2013 Season review. Çatalhöyük 2013 archive report. Çatalhöyük Research Project. Available at:http://www.catalhoyuk.com/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Archive_Report_2013.pdf (accessed 4 June 2021).Google Scholar
Hodder, I. 2014. Introduction and summary of summaries, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Integrating Çatalhöyük. Themes from the 2000–2008 seasons. British Institute in Ankara research project volume 10: 1–22. Ankara & Los Angeles (CA): British Institute in Ankara & Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. & Kutlu, S.Ö.. 2021. Moving matters at Çatalhöyük, in Hodder, I. (ed.) The matter of Çatalhöyük: reports from the 2009–2017 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project, volume 14 : 1–30. Ankara: British Institute at Ankara.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karg, S., Diederichsen, A. & Jeppson, S.. 2018. Discussing flax domestication in Europe using biometric measurements on recent and archaeological flax seeds—a pilot study, in Siennicka, M., Rahmstorf, L. & Ulanowska, A. (ed.) First textiles: the beginnings of textile manufacture in Europe and the Mediterranean : 31–38. Oxford & Philadelphia (PA): Oxbow.Google Scholar
Kvavadze, E., Bar-Yosef, O. & Belfer-Cohen, A.. 2009. 30 000-year-old wild flax fibres. Science 325: 1359. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1175404CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leuzinger, U. & Rast-Eicher, A.. 2011. Flax processing in the Neolithic and Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlements of eastern Switzerland. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 20: 535–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-011-0286-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1962. Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, first preliminary report. Anatolian Studies 13: 41–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/3642517CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1964. Excavations at Çatal Hüyük 1963: third preliminary report. Anatolian Studies 14: 39–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1967. Çatal Hüyük, a Neolithic town in Anatolia. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Nadel, D.A., Danin, A., Werker, E., Schick, T., Kislev, M.E. & Stewart, K.. 1994. 19 000-year-old twisted fibers from Ohalo II. Current Anthropology 35: 451–58. https://doi.org/10.1086/204303CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. 2005. Bast before wool, in Bichler, P., Grömer, K., Hofmann-de Keijzer, R., Kern, A. & Reschreiter, H. (ed.) Hallstatt textiles: technical analysis, scientific investigation and experiment on Iron Age textiles (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1351): 117–35. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. 2016a. Fibres: microscopy of archaeological textiles and furs. Budapest: Archaeolingua.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. 2016b. Textilien, in Harb, C. & Bleicher, N. (ed.) Zürich-Parkhaus Opéra: eine neolithische Feuchtbodenfundstelle (Monographie KA Zürich 49): 188–96. Zürich/Egg: FO-Fotorotar.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. 2018. In the beginning was the fibre, in Sofaer, J. (ed.) Considering creativity: creativity, knowledge and practice in Bronze Age Europe, University of Cambridge, 10–11 April 2013: 117–32. Oxford: Oxbow.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. 2019. Ilipinar, Turkey: textiles. Report written for J.J. Roodenberg, Santpoort-Noord, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. & Jørgensen, L. Bender. 2018. News from Çatalhöyük. Archaeological Textiles Review 60: 100–104.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. & Dietrich, A.. 2015. Neolithische und bronzezeitliche Gewebe und Geflecte: die Funde aus den Seeufersiedlungen im Kanton Zürich (Monografien der Kantonsarchäologie Zürich 46). Zürich/Egg: FO-Fotorotar.Google Scholar
Roodenberg, J. & Roodenberg, S.A. (ed.). 2008. Life and death in a prehistoric settlement in north-west Anatolia: the Ilıpınar excavations, volume III. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.Google Scholar
Ryder, M.L. 1965. Report on the textiles from Çatal Hüyük. Anatolian Studies 15: 175–76. https://doi.org/10.2307/3642510CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schick, T. 1988. Nahal Hemar Cave: cordage, basketry and fabrics. ‘Atiqot 18: 31–43.Google Scholar
Schick, T. 1995. A 10 000-year-old comb from Wadi Murabba'at in the Judean Desert. ‘Atiqot 27: 199–206.Google Scholar
Shamir, O. & Rast-Eicher, A.. 2020. Linen textiles production: continuity and discontinuity from the Neolithic period to the Chalcolithic period in the Southern Levant, in Schier, W. & Pollock, S. (ed.) Proceedings of the TOPOI (Berlin) workshop: the competition of fibres. Textile production in Western Asia and Europe (5000–2000 BCE): 27–37. Oxford & Philadelphia (PA): Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13pk7d6.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stordeur, D., Helmer, D., Jamous, B., Khawam, R., Molist, M. & Wilcox, G.. 2010. Le PPNB de Syrie du Sud à travers les découvertes récentes à Tell Aswad, in al-Maqdissi, M., Braemer, F. & Dentzer, J.-M. (ed.) Hauran V. La Syrie du Sud du Néolitique à l'Antiquité tardive I: 41–68. Beirout: Institut Français du Proche-Orient.Google Scholar
Vogelsang-Eastwood, G.M. 1988. A re-examination of the fibres from the Çatal Hüyük textiles. Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies 3(1): 15–19.Google Scholar
Vogelsang-Eastwood, G.M. 1993. One of the oldest textiles in the world? The Çayönü textile. Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 16: 4–7.Google Scholar
Wendrich, W. 2005. Çatalhöyük basketry, in Hodder, I. (ed.) Changing materialities at Çatalhöyük. Report from the 1995–99 seasons. Çatalhöyük research project volume 5: 333–38 & 589–96. Cambridge & Ankara: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research & British Institute in Ankara.Google Scholar
Wendrich, W. & Ryan, P.. 2012. Phytoliths and basketry materials at Çatalhüyük (Turkey): timelines of growth, harvest and objects life histories. Paléorient 13(1–2): 55–63. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2012.5458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfhagen, J., Veropoulidou, R., Ayala, G., Filipović, D., Kabukcu, C., Lancelotti, C., Madella, M., Pawłowska, K., Satiago-Marrero, C.G. & Wainwright, J.. 2020. The seasonality of wetland and riparian taskscapes at Çatalhöyük. Near Eastern Archaeology 83: 98–109. https://doi.org/10.1086/708446CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zohary, D., Hopf, M. & Weiss, E.. 2012. Domestication of plants in the Old World: the origin and spread of domesticated plants in Southwest Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean Basin (4th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199549061.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar