The Goddess and the Bull by Michael Balter

He gives a succinct history of the various schools of archaeology (and various tendencies within the schools), making the case for ideology, religion, and psychology as bases for interpretation as opposed to only technology, economy, and demographics. Balter, the excavation’s official biographer, is a fine storyteller and reporter. Both believed artifacts could help them make cultural interpretations of the symbolic world of ancient people they went beyond strictly adaptive and functional readings of materials. Ian Hodder, who oversaw the site after Mellaart was asked to leave when an important artifact disappeared, shared some controversial notions with his predecessor. Filled with critical examples of how people lived and expressed themselves at a pivotal moment in human development, Çatalhöyük would prove to be a testing ground for archaeological practice. What he found was one of those archaeological wonders that boggles the mind and sets archaeological theory on its ear: an enormous town sitting on the very cusp of the Neolithic in terms of art, architecture, religion, and family structure. In 1958, British archaeologist James Mellaart began poking about on a tell in south-central Turkey, searching for evidence about the spread of the Neolithic Revolution. Inventory No: 21050041.Science magazine writer Balter gives a tour of the physical and symbolic remains of prehistoric Çatalhöyük, a 9,500-year-old town on the Anatolian plains. Along the way, Balter describes the cutting-edge advances in archaelogical science that have allowed the team at Catalhoyuk to examine and illuminate the central questions of human existence. He features colourful characters like James Mellaart, the man who discovered the site only to lose it in the wake of a scandal, and Ian Hodder, a path-breaking archaeological rebel who reopened excavations in the early 1990s and who continues to probe the site today. Michael Balter, the excavation's official biographer, takes readers behind the scenes, providing unprecedented access to the remarkable site and its history of scandal and thrilling scientific discovery. Here lie the origins of modern society - the dawn of art, architecture, religion, family, and even the first tangible evidence of human self-awareness, the world's oldest mirrors. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: THE GODDESS AND THE BULL details the dramatic quest by archaeologists to unearth the buried secrets of human cultural evolution in the largest and best preserved prehistoric settlement ever to be discovered: the 9,500-year-old village of Catalhoyuk in Turkey. More specifically: Boards have no wear, rubbing or soiling. *** CONDITION: The book itself is in near fine condition and comes in near fine dust jacket.

*** PUBLISHING DETAILS: Simon & Schuster, UK, 2005.

The Goddess and the Bull by Michael Balter