CLAS 2P34 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Plaster, Mount Meru, Animal Worship
17 Jan 2017
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Catalhoyuk: lifestyle: collected and grew cereals: wheat, barley; peas, nuts, fruits, hunting meat and birds; some cattle and sheep domestication = childe"s system: barbarian , pottery, baskets, textiles, obsidian blades from trade. Murals and animal skulls: several houses (c. 40) have art installations, plastered bulls" heads with real horns and animal paintings; are they shrines, animal worship? fertility cult? perhaps . Neolithic: a feast in culture: but even more likely symbolic of feasting, bulls represent successful hunting and communal feasting = social building, feasting can also elevate status of some - leads to social obligations and competition. Why sumer: south was a lagoon = marshy = good food resources, periphery was quite arid, rivers: tigris and euphrates = water source - food source. Ancient sumer: term: hydraulic-civilization based on need to control water = organized labour and planning by communities leads to cities such as uruk.
