0.2 Remixing çatalhöyük: senses of place

Senses of Place

How do archaeologists build on their discoveries to imagine the sights and sounds of the past?

How do archaeologists representÇatalhöyük, both as it is today and as it once was?

What media and methods can archaeologists use to communicate a sense of place to others?

In the concept and study of place as it has been developed by geographers and anthropologists, place is created through intricate networks constructed by people. According to these researchers, a place is lived in with both the mundane and festive social practices that form the different elements of society. Most importantly, a place is experienced differentially, where individuals have different impacts on the making and changing of their traditions. But how do archaeologists then use the concept of place in their archaeological interpretations?

In these small spaces, we know through micromorphological investigation that some areas were used for food preparation, and others for knapping obsidian, the glassy black stone used to make sharp-edged tools. Perhaps the elderly slept on the platforms found in the houses, with their ancestors buried below them. But whatever the people ofÇatahöyük did at a given time, we know that their lives were changing as they were living: a little girl would ultimately become a mother; a family would abandon an old house and build a new one. For archaeologists who study senses of place, it’s important to be able to express these changes.

Using multimedia and the World Wide Web offers an excellent way of presenting place and promoting different experiences through audio and visual reconstructions. In 2001, for example, archaeologists from the BACH team presented a series of multimedia/live-action performances called RAVE (Real Archaeologists, Virtual Excavations), in which videos of the excavation process of Building 3 allowed non-archaeologists to see archaeological practice through different windows. These videos are currently available on the RAVE website at www.mactia.berkeley.edu/features/rave/default.html. To facilitate explorations of the senses of place, site excavator Ruth Tringham, in collaboration with others in the Remediated Places project, developed video tours that guide users through the site based on different perspectives of fictionalÇatalhöyük settlers. In these walks, not only can one see place, but one can also hear what it may have sounded like.

But it is also important for archaeologists to emphasize that“archaeological”places are still active places. The local people atÇatalhöyük today, for example, see the mound not only as a grazing ground and picnic spot, but also as a marker in the landscape that situates their village of Küçükköy, just two kilometers away. For the archaeologists who come to excavate atÇatalhöyük, it is a meeting point, a working environment, an intellectual challenge, a socialization sphere, and more. For a tourist, it may only be a curious memory, but it can also be a sacred place. Every person has a different experience atÇatalhöyük. And to make it even more complex, every person has changing experiences atÇatalhöyük.

Needless to say, it is difficult to express all of the meaningsÇatalhöyük can have for all of the different people who visit or learn about it. Using this website, you can explore the site through different media, and“remix”them to create your own version ofÇatalhöyük. The possibilities are endless.

Click here to download this PDF and see the Senses of Place Collection

RemixingÇatalhöyük Project