According to archaeologist in order to be defined as a civilization certain criteria must be met. Early archaeologists believed in order to be considered a civilization a society must have cultural superiority, which meant they must have the ability to read and write. If this was the sole criteria used to judge if a society was labeled a civilization, then you could say the Inca of South America, who constructed cities on top of mountains and had a complex system of irrigation canals, were not one because they did not have a system for reading or writing. Modern archaeologists now think of civilization as not better but different.
The modern definition of civilization consists of the development of cities, or urbanization, the existence of a centralized political unit, a dense population in the thousands and a degree of organizational complexity. After reading and listening to class lecture I believe that Catal Huyuk should be considered a civilization. As you read on I will discuss point by point why I feel Catal Huyuk was a civilization. Signs of craft specialization are very apparent at Catal Huyuk.
There are a variety tools and weapons made from obsidian, flint, stone and bone. A process called flint knapping, or chipping, was used to shape a stone, like flint, into a sharp tool which could be used in arrowheads. Another process that was used in making tools was called grounding. This involved using two stones one of which was struck against the other to shape it into the desired size, and then the stone was ground against another stone to make it sharp. This is often seen in ax heads and maces. Obsidian mirrors are made in the same grounding process.
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Civilization and the Civilizing Process: Freud and Elias For many years the name of Norbert Elias was almost unknown in the sociology. However, his work on civilization, The Civilizing Process finally made the authors famous and brought him respect he deserved. This book put its author at the line with such famous author like Freud, as the authors tried to explore the civilization and the nature ...
Bone needles used for stitching clothes were also found. My point with identifying all these different methods of making tools is that it is highly unlikely that each and every household had the skills to do all these functions. There must have been class levels in this society and since there wasn’t any sign of currency they must have used some sort of bartering system attain these services. Like a hunter going to get his ax re-sharpened and paying the craftsmen with some game that he has killed. The clay balls mentioned during class were very technologically advanced for the time. These clay balls were used in all sorts of ways.
For instance after being heated they could be used for bringing water to a boil quickly and the clay balls could also be used in cooking meat. The clay balls are placed inside the meat buried and as the clay balls slowly cool the meat cooks. The final use for the clay balls that was mentioned during class was for heating a section of the house. Since the only opening on the roof was over the oven it would be very dangerous to have an open fire near the beds, which the residents of Catal Huyuk probably had to learn the hard way. That’s why the clay balls were so handy to have all they did was radiate heat. It appears that Catal Huyuk was a major player in the trade of obsidian.
Obsidian was a sought after commodity of the time for it’s many uses from tools to mirrors, and since Catal Huyuk was actively involved in the trade of this commodity it made them very wealthy. The obsidian found at Catal Huyuk was indignant and manufactured in a way in central Analtolia. This is known because the obsidian found in Catal Huyuk was made in the same process as the obsidian found in central Analtolia. If trade caravans can attain obsidian from central Analtolia there’s no telling how far their trade routes stretched. There appears to be some sort of centralized planning at Catal Huyuk. This is very apparent when looking at the overall plan of the city level by level.
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Economic Patterns: The community’s economy was apparently based on agriculture, along with a developing practice of cattle raising. Also it is the first established city to have employed the exchange of goods with distant regions. The first ornamented pottery, metal works and large animal grazing was undertaken here. With established methods of agriculture, the people of Catal Hoyuk grew ...
But, first of all I will talk about the houses at Catal Huyuk. All the houses were almost identical in their construction and design, sun dried mud brick with timber reinforcement and elevated L shaped platforms inside. The rooftop entrance was always against the south wall over the kitchen area. The entire city was enclosed and clustered together with no road system interweaving between the homes. All transportation and communication was done from rooftop to rooftop.
If the clustering of the identical homes doesn’t prove there’s some sort of centralized planning going on, then the courtyard will. In the early stages of the city the courtyard was relatively small. But, as the city grew the people in charge of planning saw the importance of having a large open area. The open courtyard helped ventilate the city and gave the people of Catal Huyuk a place to go and unwind when they wanted to get out of their square poorly lit homes.
This plan of having a large courtyard or park is seen in many modern cities like New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Lincoln Park. These open areas didn’t just happen they were planned. Catal Huyuk had skilled craftsmen producing tools and weapons. They had innovators creating clay balls that could be used in many ways. They had merchants involved in the trade of obsidian, and let’s not forget about the city planners without whom none of this would have been possible. All these characteristics have led me to believe that Catal Huyuk should be regarded as a civilization..
