Wright, KI; (2014) Domestication and inequality? Households, corporate groups and food processing tools at Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , 33 pp. 1-33. 10.1016/j.jaa.2013.09.007.

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Abstract

Questions about the early Near Eastern Neolithic include whether domestic groups were autonomous and self-sufficient; whether they had access to similar goods; whether households were competitive; whether specialization existed; and how domestic units articulated with corporate groups. Feasting models emphasize household competition and inequality, but ethnographies show that hoe-farming societies in areas of land abundance are usually egalitarian, with little material wealth, little inequality, and little wealth transmission (inheritance). This paper explores the origins of social inequality, via a case study of Neolithic Çatalhöyük East (Turkey), in particular its ground stone artefacts, which were central to food preparation and craft production. Analysis of 2429 artefacts from 20 buildings and 9 yards reveals a mix of egalitarian features and emerging inequality. Households had private property and relatively equal access to cooking features and some ground stone tools; but toolkits do not indicate self-sufficiency. In particular, large millstones (querns) were expensive to procure and possibly shared between households. Most were deliberately destroyed, suggesting taboos on inheritance. Lorenz curves for features and ground stone artefacts suggest that storage units, unbroken querns and unfinished querns were the most unequally distributed food preparation tools/facilities. There are indications of intensification, craft specialization, and emerging factional competition.

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