Finds 858
Main Information
| Finds ID | 858 |
| Site |
Cayönü |
| Area |
ID 363 undefined |
| Research event | excavation: research The Cayönü Excavations 1964 - 1991 |
| Finds type | small finds |
| Small finds category | tool |
| Small finds type |
Adze Awl Burnisher Chisel Disc Drill Grinding stone Grindstone Hammer Mace head Mortar Needle Other Pestle Sickle implement Spatula Tally stick Unknown pintadera |
| Botany species | |
| Animal remains species | |
| Animal remains completeness | None |
| Animal remains part | |
| Lithics technology | |
| Lithics industry | |
| Lithics cores and preparation | |
| Lithics retouched tools | |
| Lithics unretouched tools | |
| Lithics raw material | |
| Obsidian | None |
| Obsidian amount | None |
| Pottery form | |
| Pottery detail | |
| Pottery decoration | |
| Pottery type | None |
| Amount | |
| Material |
antler bone clay copper stone |
| Confidence | 5 |
| Comment | Copper: Probably utilized by hafting to a handle, the awls and pins must have made working leather much easier. It is also suggested that copper pins and awls were used in the production and fine retrouces of the obsidian "Cayönü tool". The bone tools typologically were mor functional than decorative, new forms were developed depending on needs. The majority of the few simply-decorated ones were found in the early phases. A few of the string-hole-implements and the blunt-edged-spatulae/polishers are decorated. Neadles, blunt-edged-spatulae/polishers, and string-hole-implements occasionally served as burial gifts. Needles and bodkins of different sizes must have played a significant role in the daily life at Cayönü. Oval-eyed-needles were used for a rather long time. Round-eyes ones first appear in the Channeled Building Subphase. Needles and bodkins almost completely disappear after the second half of the Fourth Evolutionary Stage. Piercing tools of various types are also common from the very beginning of the settlement. Slender-articulated and ulna-fibula-awls are the earliest types, mostly in the Third Evolutionary Stage and are used until the end of the Fourth Evolutionary Stage. Slender awls and flat awls, though few in number are typical for the Cobble Paved Building Subphase. Splinter-awls, which are types that were used from the earliest phases, become one of the main types in the Cell and Large Room Building Subphases. The antler-awls that are typical for the Cell Building Subphase first appeared in the Channeled Building Subphase. The distribution of borers and punches is similar to that of the other piercing tools. In spite of being in common use until the first half the Third Evolutionary Stage, the totally disappear after the first phase of Large Room Buildings (lr1). Knives, thin blades spatulae/knives, and blunt-edged-spatulae/polishers were probably the most-used tools in tanning leather from the start of the settlement. Knives are the preferred tools of the Channeled and Cobble Paved Building Suphases, thin-bladed spatulae/knives were characteristic of all stages. Blunt-edged-spatulae/polishers increased in number in the Cell Building Subphase. All of these flat tools decrease in number in the Large Room Building Subphase. Chisles made of bone or antler are used throughout the span of the settlement (narrow-edges are the earliest type and seen in all the subphases, wide-cutting edges na dantler chisels become widespread, but are mainly of the Cobble Paved and Cell Building Subphases). String-hole-implements are first seen in the third building phase (r3) of the Round Building Subphase, increased in number in the Channeled Building Subphase, become common n the Cobble Paved Building Subphase and were extensively used during the Cell Building Subphase befor going out of fashion at the beginning of the Large Room Building Subphase (their function is not clear, use-wear traces suggest that they might have been used for stretching thongs of for weaving). Bone or antler hafts include: short and long socketed-hafts, tubular-bone-hafts, chisel-hafts, sickle hafts, and knife hafts, which are the earliest hafts and disappear after the First Evolutionary Stage. The earliest short-socketed and tubular-bone-hafts were found in the second half of the First Evolutionary Stage, whereas the long-socketed-hafts appear in the last subphase of channeled buildings (ch3) becoming significant in the Third Evolutionary Stage. The Chisel-haft is the tool-type of the Cell and Large Room Building Subphases. All of the few antler sickles existed only during the second half of the Third Evolutionary Stage (Cell Building Subphases). The V-shaped tool made from shoulder blades (scapulae), which is first seen in this phase is assumed to have been used as a pulling tool while collecting cereal grasses. Antler hammers are found only in workshops of the western sector during the Canneled and Cobble Paved Builsding Subphases. Digging tools, also made of antler, are represented only by two examples from the Channeled Builsding Subphase. A few fragments of notched-scapulae ("tally sticks") were found in the Cell (c1) and Large Room Builsding (lr) Subphases. In the Round Building Subphase, small and medium sized handstone were preferred to pestles. Pestles developed in shape during the Grill Builing Subphase, and become widespread in the Third Evolutionary Stage, especially in the Cell Building Subphase. In the meantime, both pestles and handstones were produced, their sizes enlarging over time. Stone mortars are surprisingly rare. Special-pestles-with-articulated handles (stone maces) sere symbolic rather than artifacts for daily use. Only four examples have been found in Cayönü, three of which are broken. Their distribution at Cayönü is not much help in determining their origin and function. Those not intact could not be associated particularly with any graves or special buildings. The intact one could have been left in building DS (c3) as a gift before tha building was buried. They probably came to Cayönü as exchange material or gifts. The handstones, the largest group in the ground stone tool assemblage, have been classified into seventeen types (the most common: turtle-shaped, medium-low domed, medium-low vaulted, and small semirectangular shaped handstones). All types are present in every phase. The basalt grinding slabs (hand mills) have various shapes and profiles. Convex based, oval or more roundish shaped and with a slight depression at the centre are types that belong to the First and Second Evolutionary Stages (in the second half of the Fourth Evolutionary Stage a distinct decrease in the number of grinding slabs is observed). Most of the grinding slabs are broken, and were found in the grills of the grill buildings are either building material (secondary use) or votive stones (cf celts). In the Channeled and Cobble Paved Building Subphases grinding slabs were usually found in the courtyards, whereas in the Cell and Large Room Building Subphases they are generally found in the houses; very few fragments were found on the Plaza. Celts are the richtest and second most prominent group at Cayönü. In the earlier phases medium-sized celts were more common. They were typologically developed during the Grill Building Subphase. It appears that the celts in the walls of the grill buildings were intentionally put in during the abandonment of the building. Celts are an important element of the household inventory of the cell buildings. Reshaping broken celts into pestles (celt-pestle) or ornamental objects became a common practice at Cayönü. Spheres made of different kinds of soft and hard stone appear in various sizes and with different qualities of finish (well polished, irregularly finished spheres have been found in almost identical numbers, usually inside rather than outside buildings, in every subphase. Those made from flint were used as hammers. Rectilinear or elongated oval shaped grooved-stones, usually made of either seatite-like material or medium soft stone, display single or double "U" or "V" shaped grooves on either sides. They are usually small enough to be carried on one's person, generally have incised geometric decorations on their reverse, sometimes also along the grooves. Although their function is not certain, the are usually considered as shaft straighteners, sometimes they are interpreted as being associated with hunting rites and representing the reproduction cycle. Their intersettlement distribution is similar to that of the stone spheres. Some with multiple shallower grooves (thin-multiple-grooves) are found only in the First Evolutionary Stage. The earliest chipped discs, which subsequently became the predominant artifact and symbolic of the Fourth Evolutionary Stage, and which continued to be used in the Pottery Neolithic, were found in a very small quantity in the first half of the Second Evolutionary Stage. Although their use is uncertain, the fact that they are foun in great quantities suggests that they must have been functional and therefore indispensable for the Cayönü people. The oval ones are among the burial gifts of the Cell Building Subphase. The examples at Cayönü are generally thin and oval in section. The tools designated as digging tools have wide, sharp, retouched cutting edges and ends that are suitable for hafting to wooden handles. These tools, which are signs of the first attempts at agriculture, notably appear in the Third Evolutionary Stage and disappear after the first phase (lr1) of the large room buildings. Mace heads: objects with large drilled holes, one hafted celt and two hafted hammers are among the scanty artifacts found in the period between the subphases of late grills and early large room buildings. They are characterized by highly polished surfaces and bilaterally perforated holes. They possibly had a symbolic meaning like the special-pestles-with-articulated-handles. Many small artifacts generally made from softer stone were manufactured for use in workshops of the Channeled and Cobble Paved Building Subphase; they include chisels, drills, awls, screwdriver-like tools, and flat spatulae. Small limestone palettes are also among the workshop finds. The stones designated as perforated spatulae, have almost constant shape and weight. Apart from the perforation at one end, there is nothing to suggest their function; from their form, they might have been fishing net weights or loom weights. They appeared at the beginning of the second half of the First Evolutionary Stage but are more numerous in the Second and Third Evolutionary Stages. Flat perforated stones that are actually flat pebbles of soft rocks drilled at the centres of both their surfaces are mostly seen in the Large Room Building Subphase (lr). The fact, whatever these tools have been recovered, their diameter has an almost constant size of 5-6cm, highly suggests that this is defined by their function. Clay discs of various forms and sizes are not seen before the end of the Second Evolutionary Stage. But in this stage there is a remarkable number of them. Their distribution at the site is similar to that of sheep-goat figurines, almost all of them being foound in the eastern sector of the settlement. One of the two examples of pintadera which are to be seen at many sites, especially in Western and Central Anatolia, was found in the Large Room Buildings Subphase and the other near to cell building CY (c3) both in the Pottery Neolithic. |
Bibliography