Remodeled human skulls in Köşk Höyük (Neolithic age, Anatolia): a new appraisal in view of recent discoveries

Abstract

Between 1985 and 2007 overall nineteen human skulls dating to the Late Neolithic period were recovered at Köşk Höyük, which lies within the borders of Bor, a district of the Niğde Province in Central Anatolia. One of these skulls belongs to a child and the remainder to adult males and females. The plastered skulls may have been laid on or wrapped in mats and exposed either singly or in groups on a plaster surface inside the house. Among thirteen of these skulls the mouths, noses, eyes and ears were depicted with clay and painted with red ochre, while the remaining six were untreated. Two headless skeletons were also found in situ underneath the floor inside the house. One of these skeletons belongs to a child aged approximately 15–16 years old and the other belongs to an adult female. The modeled human skulls were encountered in the second and third cultural levels of the Late Neolithic period indicating that this characteristic mortuary practice lasted for quite a long time and likely disappeared by the Chalcolithic at Köşk Höyük.

Introduction

One of the most remarkable mortuary practices from the early agricultural villages of the Middle and Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (MLPPNB) in the Near East was the spectacular remodeling of facial features on the skull removed from the rest of the skeleton (Kuijt, 2008: 959). Such examples have been reported from several sites such as Tel Ramad (Ferembach, 1969, Ferembach and Lechevalier, 1973) and Tel Aswad (Stordeur, 2003) in Syria; Jericho (Strouhal, 1973, Rollefson, 1985), Nahal Hemar (Yakar and Hershkovitz, 1988, Arensburg and Hershkovitz, 1988), Kfar Hahoresh (Goren et al., 2001, Simmons et al., 2007), Beisamoun in Israel; and Ain Ghazal (Butler, 1989, Simmons et al., 1990) in Jordan. Recent similar discoveries during the excavations in Çatal Höyük (Hodder, 2005) and Köşk Höyük (Öztan, 2002, Bonogofsky, 2004, Özbek, 2005a) allow us to infer that skull plastering extended beyond the Levant, well into Anatolia during the Pottery Neolithic period. Although the samples excavated in Central Anatolia did not arise due interest within the scientific community, the number of findings reflecting this behavioral pattern is rising significantly (Özbek, 2005a, Bonogofsky, 2005).

Archaeological researches on the Neolithic settlements of Anatolia have revealed a high degree of variation and also a marked regional similarity in funerary practices (Mellaart, 1967, Özbek, 1988a, Özbek, 1988b, Özbek, 2005a, Özbek, 2005b, Özdoğan and Özdoğan, 1990, LeMort et al., 2000, Molleson et al., 2005). Even if there is no direct evidence that would elucidate the motives behind these various mortuary practices, they can still be considered among the conceptual changes surrounding life and death during this new cultural period known as the Neolithic. With the founding of relatively large agricultural villages in Anatolia and other countries of the Near East, mortuary practices and household rituals changed dramatically (Özbek, 2005a).

The aim of this study is to open discussion about the practice of remodeling skulls revealed through the architectural levels II and III in Köşk Höyük, dating to the Late Neolithic, on the basis of new discoveries brought forth by the excavations of 2005, 2006 and 2007 and to make some comparisons with the similar findings from other sites of the Near East.

Köşk Höyük is situated within the borders of Bahçeli town of Bor, a district of the Niğde Province in Central Anatolia (Fig. 1). The archaeological excavations of Köşk Höyük are being carried out under the joint responsibility of the Museum of Niğde and Professor Aliye Öztan from the Major Branch of Protohistory and Western Asian Studies of the Faculty of Linguistics, History and Geography in Ankara. The author of this article has been participating in the excavations at Köşk Höyük since 2004. Radio-carbon dating of the site has yielded a calibrated date of 5211 ± 84 B.C., placing it in the Late Neolithic (Öztan et al., 2006). The plastered and unplastered skulls are stored at the Niğde Museum. Other skeletal remains of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic ages unearthed at Köşk Höyük are being studied by M. Özbek and housed in the Department of Anthropology of Hacettepe University (Ankara).

Excavations at Köşk Höyük have produced important information about the prehistoric period of Central Anatolia. The architecture is predominantly Central Anatolian in plan and material. Pottery is monochrome or painted, and the vessels with relief decoration were produced by local potters. Relief decoration was used to render natural representations of local fauna, which must have been considered sacred (Öztan, 2002: 55). More details concerning the archaeological context of Köşk Höyük can be found in the publications of Silistreli, 1985, Silistreli, 1986, Silistreli, 1989 and Öztan et al., 2006, Öztan et al., 2007.