2008-02-08T10:01:50-08:00 http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/feed/atom/media http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/NowhereMan/66 NowhereMan http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/ccimages/person.png 2008-02-08T10:01:50-08:00 Video highlights of Remixing Catalhoyuk Day, which took place on November 28, 2007. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/NowhereMan/NowhereMan_-_Remixing_Catalhoyuk_Day_Video.mov http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/65 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:55:37-08:00 A micromorphology sample has been prepared cutting through the floors of the western room (Space 158) and central floor area (Unit 8296) of Building 3. The block is ready to be carefully cut from the matrix which still holds it. The thin layers of repeated floor plaster can be seen at the base of the block, a thick layer of dark foundation material, and then on top a thick layer of beige packing covered by thinner white plaster floor layers on the floor of Space 158. From the slides that will be created from this block by atalhyk project micromorphologist Wendy Matthews, the history of the building and many more pieces of information can be "read" under the microscope. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Getting_to_the_Bottom_of_Things.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/64 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:52:39-08:00 Michael Ashley, the media specialist for the BACH team from 1998, wrote his PhD dissertation at UC Berkeley on archaeology and vision (completed in 2003), focusing on visual perception in the past and present at atalhyk. In 2002, Michael carried out a series of tests on the ability of archaeologists to see contrasts in soil colors in different excavation contexts. Using a special sheet designed to test contrast vision, he tested a large number of atalhyk team members in a variety of places. Here he has set up his chart prior to testing the archaeologists working at the highest point of the East Mound, where the team from Poznan, Poland, was excavating without benefit of shelter or shade. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Visual_Perception.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/63 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:46:13-08:00 In 2004, the filled-in scar of the BACH area with its tent removed is visible from the shade of a shelter erected over a new, neighboring area to the south called 4040. By this time, the place we knew as the BACH area is completely unrecognizable and fast on its way to being forgotten. Jason Quinlan, who spent so much time hanging from the shelter's rafters to photograph Building 3s excavation, sits and contemplates his future as mobile photographer and videographer, traversing the site of atalhyk, which becomes his new "place" of work. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_BACH_Filled-in_.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/62 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:29:46-08:00 In this 2001 photograph, it is possible to see a number of interesting colors in the soil and residues around the babys burial in the central floor area of Building 3: red ochre and green pigment. When archaeologists find such anomalies in the generally beige-brown soil matrix at atalhyk, they scoop it all up in its earth matrix to be examined under a microscope by conservators and soil and residue specialists in the labs of the compound. In this case, there was also some unburned wood to be examined that turned out to be fragments of what might have been a box. The piece of bone lodged in the mass of green turned out to be a bone spatula in what seemed to be a green paste, perhaps for coloring human skin. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Colors_of_the_Soil.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/61 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:27:51-08:00 Most artifacts found at atalhyk are very small. This bone pin stuck in a clump of green-colored pigment was found in 2001 with the baby buried under the central floor area of Building 3. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Bone_Pin.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/60 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:24:36-08:00 Jason Quinlan, a graduate of UC Berkeley's Anthropology department, became Michael Ashley's assistant in media recording during the BACH excavations, and is now in charge of the media record of the current excavations at atalhyk. In this 2002 photo, he is shown taking one of the wonderful aerial photos of Building 3 that were made possible by hanging from a climbing rig the two developed in 2001. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Climbing_Rig.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/59 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:22:02-08:00 Anne-Marie Vandendriesch, a former student at UC Berkeley, in the process of taking a block sample from the outer wall of Building 3 for micromorphological analysis. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Micromorphological_Analysis.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/58 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:16:33-08:00 Aerial photo of the whole BACH area, including Building 3 and the three small rooms to its south (left). The view is toward the west in 2002. This is a "classic" archaeological photo with no people, all features clean and well dusted. There is no scale of reference, but the outer walls of Building 3 measure 7 x 6.5 meters. Somehow, the building seems much smaller with no people in view. At the time of this photograph, the earliest floors of Building 3 were being excavated. Associated with them are an early oven in the southwest corner of the building, and storage bins in its northwest corner. The red stain by the south wall of Building 3 is the burnt earth below a later oven that has already been removed. In this season, the three small rooms in the left of the picture were excavated. They probably had very separate lives from that of Building 3. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Classic_Photograph.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/57 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:12:44-08:00 In this general scene of the BACH team excavating Building 3 during the 2001 season, many activities are in progress. The camera has caught burial excavation on the right (Lori Hager and Basak Boz); floor scraping (bottom right, Tish Prouse); struggling with the ladder feature (left, John Matsunaga); planning with the EDM, or electronic distance measuring device (top center, Dragana Milosevic); planning (center, Laura Steele and Predrag Dakic); and finally, standing and writing notes in the unit sheet (top right, Jim Vedder). We are viewing Building 3 from the northeast corner towards the southwest corner, the small cells, and the EDM.arc Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Archaeology_in_Action.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/56 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:08:51-08:00 Ninety percent of the blade tools found at atalhyk were made of a black volcanic glass called obsidian. While the closest source of obsidian is Hasan Dag, a now-dormant volcano 200 kilometers northeast of the atalhyk, much of the obsidian used in the prehistoric settlement came from farther away, in Eastern Turkey. This is an obsidian core found in Building 3, from which blades with very sharp edges could be flaked. Through various geochemical testing, it is possible to say precisely where this obsidian came from. Then it is up to the archaeologist to interpret howby what social practice of exchange or direct acquisitionthe obsidian reached its destination. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Importance_of_Obsidian.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/55 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T15:04:28-08:00 Basak Boz, the Turkish human remains specialist for the BACH project (at right, with the cap) interprets for Mirjana Stevanovic, the BACH field director and Replica House designer (far right). Mirjana is asking the local villagers who assist on the project their thoughts about the composition of Neolithic wall plaster. Mirjana is interested in using a compromise plaster recipe on the walls of the Replica House which is similar to that used in the Neolithic houses, but is also familiar to the local villagers, who plaster their own mud-brick houses. She recognizes and respects their expertise. On the left, atalhyk project conservator Emin Murat zdemir looks on and will soon join the discussion. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Ideas_on_Neolithic_Wall_Plaster.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/54 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T14:58:59-08:00 This image taken in 2000 depicts one of the more unusual groups of visitors to the BACH shelter. The mound and excavations of atalhyk were included as part of these post-wedding events. The bridesmaid, identified by the similarity of her shoes to those of the bride, seems genuinely interested in what is going on. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Wedding_Bells.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/53 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T14:55:09-08:00 Software engineer John Coker (at left in this picture) was the BACH project's angel, who kept the project going through his philanthropic contributions for its last four years. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Contributions.jpg http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/media/files/okapi/52 okapi http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_smaller.jpg 2007-07-16T14:50:49-08:00 Michael Ashley documented the BACH excavations using photography, video, and other digital media. He also developed a rig used to climb into the rafters of the BACH shelter to do aerial photography. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on vision in the past and present of atalhyk. Download from: http://okapi.dreamhosters.com/archaeoblender/people/okapi/okapi_-_Vision.jpg