加泰土丘发掘展现古代聚落生活的性别平等

作者：ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

时间：2014年10月2日

译者：霁蓝

校对：铃铛

编辑：良辰

链接：//www.hurriyetdailynews.com/catalhoyuk-excavations-reveal-gender-equality-in-ancient-settled-life.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72411&NewsCatID=375

加泰土丘的发掘工作者通过对壁画、雕塑、葬式的研究分析，对这座古遗址的社会结构及日常生活进行了进一步的了解。

伊恩·霍德（Ian Hodder）教授说，加泰土丘的历史悠久，在其所在地域内有着尤其重要的地位。它是中东地区以外的聚落生活的最早范例。

加泰土丘于2012年加入世界遗产名录的新石器时期聚落遗址，它已经吸引了来自22个国家的学者前来投入考古工作，而这项考古工作预计于2018年完成。据斯坦福大学领导发掘工作的伊恩·霍德教授称，这座遗址最新的重要发现表明此地居民的男女地位相对平等。

 霍德说，“多亏了现代科学技术，我们能够看出当时的女性与男性的食物、生活、工作类型都十分相近。男性与女性被赋予了相同的社会地位。我们认识到，当时的男性与女性是被平等对待的。”

他还补充道，“在加泰土丘，人们的生活遵循平等守则，尤其是与其他中东地区聚落所表现出的等级制度相比。这一点使得它与众不同。当时那里没有领导人、政府或是行政设施，男女是平等的。”

加泰土丘遗址由詹姆斯·梅拉特（James Mellaart）于1958年发现，而第一轮发掘行动在1961至1965年间开展过四次。1993年，这座古代聚落遗址的另一层神秘面纱被揭开。在一次地表调查后，遗址的南部与北部于1995年重开发掘，并一直持续至今。如今，一支160人组成的考古队正在加泰土丘继续发掘工作，队中四分之一的成员是土耳其人。

霍德说，加泰土丘九千年之久的历史及广阔的面积使得其在该地域里尤为重要，并强调它是中东地区以外的居民生活的最早范例。

他说，“以前人们一直认为最早只有中东、伊拉克、美索不达米亚和叙利亚出现过聚落生活。但上述发掘表明安纳托利亚中部地区也有耕作及聚落生活。”

发掘工作的领导者还提到，考古学家们在发掘中使用最先进的科学技术，收集到了加泰土丘的食物营养、社会及经济关系的新信息。

有关社会结构的发现

考古队还从遗址的葬式中得到了有关当时社会结构的重要发现。霍德说，“我们还发现被埋葬在民居下方的人们之间并无血缘关系。他们住在同一屋檐下，但生身父母却不相同。在加泰土丘出生的人并不与生身父母一起生活，而是与其他家庭。”

 研究者们还研究了壁画、雕塑及坟墓之间的联系，他们也由此更加深入地了解了这座聚落遗址的日常生活。

“我们认为这些艺术品的创作目的是与过世的人交流，或是起到保护的作用，”霍德说。他着重强调，加泰土丘的艺术品与其它在民居中发现的大量壁画一样，有丰富的象征意义，“加泰土丘地位非常重要的另一个原因是所有的壁画和物品都保存得十分完好。当你到加泰土丘去并参观民居，你既能看到人，也能看到属于这些人的物品。这会让你感到你的祖先仍与你同在。”

目前的这支考古队得到了土耳其共和国文化旅游部的许可，将继续在2015-16年间进行为期半年的发掘工作，并在2017-18年发表他们的最终成果。

霍德说他的队伍目前主要的目标之一是解答加泰土丘从什么时候开始了聚落生活。“我们对最底层发掘出的第一批民居一无所知。我们想要研究为什么人们聚集到一起并建立了加泰土丘，”他说道。

霍德还提到，自从加泰土丘被列入世界遗产名录后，旅游者接踵而来。为了保护这里的砖石建筑，挖掘工作变得非常艰巨，并且通常考古遗址很难得到长期资助。“考古工作会进展缓慢，并且要求极大的耐心。”霍德表示，“Yapı Kredi银行资助我们是冒了一定风险的，但加泰土丘被列入了世界遗产名录，说明他们的风险投资十分值得。”

原文：

Through analysis of wall paintings, sculptures, and burials, excavators at Çatalhöyük aim to understand more about the ancient site’s social structure and daily life.

Professor Ian Hodder says Çatalhöyük’s long history makes it particularly important in its field, and it showcases the earliest example of settled life outside of the Middle East in Çatalhöyük.

Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement included in the 2012 UNESCO World Heritage list, has attracted thousands of academics from 22 countries to its archaeological works, set to be finished in 2018. The latest headline discoveries at the site indicate that Çatalhöyük was a place of relative gender equality, according to Stanford University Professor Ian Hodder, who is directing the excavations.

“Thanks to modern scientific techniques, we have seen that women and men were eating very similar foods, lived similar lives and worked in similar works. The same social stature was given to both men and women. We have learned that men and women were equally approached,” Hodder said.

“People lived with the principle of equality in Çatalhöyük, especially considering the hierarchy that appeared in other settlements in the Middle East. This makes Çatalhöyük different. There was no leader, government or administrative building; men and women were equal,” he added.

The site of Çatalhöyük was first discovered in 1958 by James Mellaart, and the first excavations were carried out during four seasons between 1961 and 1965. In 1993, a new curtain was unveiled in the ancient settlement. Following a surface survey, excavations in the north and south of the site have been continuing since 1995, and works have been carried out there ever since. Currently, a team of 160 people is working at Çatalhöyük, of which one in four is Turkish.

Hodder said Çatalhöyük’s 9,000-year history and large area made it particularly important in its field, noting that it showcased the earliest example of settled life outside of the Middle East.

“It was always thought that the settled [life] was only in the Middle East, Iraq, Mesopotamia and Syria. But these excavations have revealed that farming and settled life existed in the Central Anatolia, too,” he said.

The excavation leader also said archaeologists had been able to glean fresh information about nutrition, social and business relations in Çatalhöyük with new scientific techniques.

Discoveries about the social structure

The team has also made important discoveries about social structure through burials at the site. “We have also seen that people who were buried under houses were not biologically relatives or members of the same family. They lived as a family but their natural parents are not the same. Those who were born in Çatalhöyük did not live with their biological parents but with others,” Hodder said.

Researchers have also been studying the connections between wall paintings, sculptures and tombs, which allow researchers to develop a better understanding of daily life in the settlement.

“We think that artworks were made to get in touch with the dead or to protect them,” Hodder said, stressing that Çatalhöyük’s artwork, like the many wall paintings discovered in houses, was very rich in terms of symbolism. “Another reason why Çatalhöyük is very important is that all wall paintings and objects were protected very well. When you visit Çatalhöyük and go to these houses, you can see both people and belongings of these people. It gives you the impression that your ancestors are still living with you,” he added.

With permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the current team will continue six-month excavations in the 2015-2016 season and announce their final data in the 2017-2018 season.

Hodder said one of the major remaining goals for his team is to address the question of how the settlement Çatalhöyük first began. “We don’t have any idea about the first houses, which were found in the deepest layer. We want to learn why people came together and formed Çatalhöyük,” he said.

Hodder also noted that Çatalhöyük has become more popular among tourists since its inclusion in the UNESCO list. Excavating the site is an arduous process due to need to protect its adobe buildings, and it is often difficult for archaeological sites to find long-term sponsors, he explained. “Archaeology is about processing very slowly and requires great patience,” Hodder said. “Yapı Kredi is taking a risk here, but this risk turned into success when Çatalhöyük entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.”