New findings at Çatalhöyük

Archaeological excavations at the ancient settlement of Çatalhöyük continued in 2015, with a rare human face-like plaster head among the most exciting finds, according to excavation head Prof. Ian HodderÇatalhöyük, the 9,000-year-old settlement in the central Anatolian province of Konya's Çumra district, once again amazed archaeologists with new findings in 2015, the most important of which was a rare human face-like plastered head. 

Çatalhöyük was discovered in 1958 by archaeologist James Mellaart and excavations were carried out between 1961 and 1963 and then again in 1965. 

After a long break, work at the site resumed in 1993 and has been carried out by Prof. Ian Hodder of Standford University. 

Last year, excavations started in June and ended in August. The results of the work were published online via a website, www.catalhoyuk.com. 

Providing information about the last year's excavations in the Çatalhöyük 2015 archive report, which can be reached online, Hodder said they had unearthed very remarkable finds and among them the most important was a plastered-head with obsidian eyes. 

"[In] Building 132 [B.132] a head was found that had been modeled in plaster, painted and had obsidian eyes inserted. While a Neolithic statue with obsidian eyes has been found in ?anl?urfa, parallels for the Building 132 head are rare. The head was multiply replastered, and in some of the replasterings the obsidian eyes were replaced with black paint. The head was originally attached to the wall of B.132, above and looking into or watching over the entrance into the side storage room. It is tempting to interpret the head and its obsidian eyes as monitoring the movement of stores into and out of the side room. It is not...