Archaeology Magazine - March 1962 - 12

or not it is associated with the animals on the east or
north wall- consists of three rows of figures of which
tacking the stag brought down are probably naked, the those in the middle register are shown in slightly
other figures wear stiff animal skins round the waist. larger size. These include one "harlequin," one figThe paintings that decorate the north and west wall ure completely in white but for a leopard skin on one
of the main room also show scenes with animals. An shoulder, and between them a man in a white loinenormous wild bull, six feet long, is shown on the cloth which is shown as "streamers," since he is in
north wall surrounded by a dozen small men includ- motion. All the figures except the headless "harleing two fragmentary figures painted half in red and quins" and the naked acrobats wear leopard skins
half in white. Such figures, which we have called around the waist and beret-like bonnets of the same
''harlequins," are frequent in this shrine and present material. Within half an hour of being uncovered the
a problem in that no head is preserved. Were these pink color of the skins turned gray and the bright reds
ever present? One is automatically reminded of the of the bodies gradually took on a darker shade. Sevburial custom in which heads were buried separately, eral figures wear pendants, shown in white paint,
and would like to see in these "harlequin" figures suspended from the neck. Such pendants have actually
spirits of ancestors which take part in the rites of the been found; they are flat plaques of stone (often
hunt. However, more evidence is needed before one calcite) with a perforation near the top or in the
can even suggest such a theory, which for the moment center. A figure in the bottom row appears to be
should be treated as a perhaps too fanciful suggestion. beating a drum and two figures in the top row are
One of these figures is shown among a group of performing feats of ecstatic jumping. Most of the
hunters that pursue another large animal of unde- men are armed with bows and clubs.
The second polychrome painting, which covered
fined species, on the largely destroyed west wall. This
and
dressed
with
and
bow
the
one just described, shows larger figures running
armed
club
is
"harlequin"
in a stiff skin round the waist. This is colored pink at some speed toward the right. To the left are fcvo
and spotted black, and may thus be safely identified other figures, of a more static style in red monoas a leopard skin. Incidentally, leopards still occur in chrome, which belong to a third phase of painting.
the Taurus Mountains, and the frequency of leopards After some repainting this fresco was covered with
associated with the Mother Goddess figurines, both at thick white mud-plaster of which we were able to
Çatal Hüyiik and at Hacilar, is of particular impor- count some twenty successivecoats.
tance.
No paintings were preserved on any part of the Needless to say, the discovery of these Early Neosouth wall and perhaps it did not have any, this being lithic paintings raises a number of important questhe side usually reserved for domestic purposes. The tions. What is their origin and where does it lie ? How
east wall of the shrine, now badly destroyed, was does this art relate to that of eastern Spain, the Sahara
covered with most lively polychrome scenes of hunters or the naturalistic rock-engravings at Kilwe in Jordan
dancing and rejoicing. There are also fragmentary and Beldibi near Antalya? Does it also have an anremains of three large stags, in monochrome red.
cestry in the Upper Palaeolithic period, of which so
The "dancers' fresco" is of particular interest in little is yet known in Anatolia? It is hoped that the
that it shows a large group of human beings, all men, next seasons' work at Çatal Hüyük may yield answers
in lively movement and probably performing a dance to at least some of these questions.
of sorts, whether in connection with the stags on the
same wall or the great aurochs bull on the north wall,
JAMESMELLAART,born in Londonin 1925, was eduit will always be difficult to decide. Most of the men cated at the Universityof Leidenand at UniversityCollege,
are shown running toward the left, that is, toward the London(BA. 1951). From 1951to 1961he was associated
with the BritishInstituteof Archaeology
at Ankara,Turkey,
bull, but two at the other end move in the opposite as Fellowand later as AssistantDirector.He is now Lecturer
direction, toward the stags. The question is even more in PrehistoricArchaeologyat the Universityof Istanbul.Mr.
Mellaart'sresearchhas includedsurveysand excavationsin
complicated by the fact that this earliest polychrome Jordan,Cyprus,Greeceand Turkey.
The campaignat Çatal Hüyük was sponsoredby Mr. F.
painting was overlaid by another in which all the
figures run in even greater agitation toward the stags Neilson,the Wenner-GrenFoundationfor Anthropological
on the right. These later figures, more fragmentary Research,the Institute of Archaeologyof the Universityof
the Australian Institute of Archaeologyand the
than the underlying paintings, are visible on the London,
British Academy.The frescoeswere cleaned,recordedand
to the Ankara Museumby Mr. Perry Bialor and
photographs by the change in direction and by their removed
Mrs. Mellaart.The ByzantineInstitute of Americakindly
larger size.
lent the servicesof Mr. E. Hawkins,who demonstratedthe
The scene of the earlier "dancers' fresco"- whether technique.
Mural

Painting

continued

Archaeology Magazine - March 1962

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