Çatalhöyük, Turkey, is adopted by many new-age goddess worshipers as a place where early goddess-worshipping farmers lived in social organizations in which leadership was inherited through the female line, mother to daughter (Hodder n.p.). The reason for the claim was the fact that James Mellaart, an archaeologist, in the 1960s found a goddess figurine in a grain bin. It was strongly suggested by Ian Hodder that the so-called ‘Mother Goddess’ had something to do with fertility having been found in a grain bin. However, there have been no suggestions whether the grain bins were symbolic. It is quite eminent the statuettes and figurines in Çatalhöyük had different roles to play although it was difficult to argue for specific significance.
The figurine that was discovered by James Mellaart had an affluent female imagery setting on a seat of felines, most probably leopards, with her hands resting on their heads (Hodder n.p.). This was symbolic of power, showing that she could tame nature. The theme that is evident here is the dominance of the woman over nature, more so, wild animals. This theme has been there for many centuries in different cultures. For example Athena and the owl, the Snake Goddess of Crete, Armetis and her hounds, Demeter acting as the pure Mother Bee, just to name a few. With the ethnographic evidence like the one of the figurine in Çatalhöyük, it can be suggested that women may have had authority at certain stages in contemporary societies (Morgan 11).
Furthermore, from continued excavations at the site there were splayed reliefs figures that were found on walls in Çatalhöyük that might have been other representations of women in that society. These figures had their feet and arms pointing upwards and in one case a swollen belly. The swollen belly and the birth position of the legs were likely to suggest a pregnancy. However, since these figures lacked breasts, there was little evidence to suggest they were all women (Hodder n.p.).The virtual status of men and women in early levels Çatalhöyük can also be viewed from the diet point of view (Hodder n.p.). In the event where both genders lived different lives, it was expected that strong scientific evidence will uncover the differences in their diet with the prominent party having better or more access to different kinds of foodstuffs.
Even though no variations of the bone isotopes were seen on the skeleton analysis of both genders done by Jessica Pearson of the University of Oxford and Michael P. Richards of the University of Bradford, there were variations in the cavities of men and women. This analysis showed that men had fewer cavities than their female counterparts. However, no variations were noted in terms of wear on the teeth. With this evidence, it is unclear to suggest that either part were superior in terms of diet. The overall picture portrayed of men and women in Çatalhöyük conclusively show that there was division and specialization of roles.
Works Cited
Hodder, I. "Women and men at Çatalhöyük." Scientific American 290.1 (2004): n. pag. Web.
Morgan, C. L. "(Re)Building Çatalhöyük: Changing Virtual Reality in Archaeology."Archaeologies-journal of The World Archaeological Congress (2009): n. pag. Web. <10.1007/s11759-009-9113-0>.
