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to be fairly rare up through to Level VIII.80 The significant quantity of baskets and wooden containers found in association with the ceramics suggest that foodstuffs were most likely carried and stored in organic containers, which may even have been used to “cook” food. Heated clay balls, found in large numbers in these earliest levels, could have effectively roasted grain held in organic containers. The earliest pottery from Çatalhöyük is handmade with thick walls built with coils or slabs of clay. Many vessels are mottled with dark patches from being fired at low temperatures in an uncontrolled open kiln. Hole-mouth jars, sometimes bearing knob handles, and oval bowls are common. After Level VI, vessels were fired to a range of dark colors and potters switched from chaff to grit inclusions, which have thermal qualities more suitable for cooking and may point to changes in kitchen practices. Although the same basic forms continued, vessels are now better manufactured with thinner walls and a higher polished surface. Later, mottled wares again become more common and new shapes emerged. Despite the exuberance of the painted rooms at Çatalhöyük, and the high level of skill displayed by other crafts, Neolithic pottery was not seen as medium that required much attention.

Dark burnished vessels from Kösk Höyük III are particularly striking for their relief decoration.81 One jar is anthropoid—facial features, including coffee bean-shaped eyes, are applied to the narrow neck, and a pair of arms and female breast that are placed on the upper body. Another portrays three figures, apparently dancing, whereas yet another jar is decorated with a stag’s head, with its impressive 12 point antlers painted white to contrast with the dark surface. Late Neolithic red-slipped jars, cups, and bowls with flaring sides are well represented at Musular, Kösk Höyük and from material collected from the surface at a number of sites.82

Western Anatolia

The change in ceramic traditions from dark colored wares to red-slipped ones is well represented in the Lake District. It is apparent at Bademag˘ acı and Höyücek, which also foreshadows the white-on-red painted horizon in its uppermost levels (Figure 4.18).83 Whereas Refik Duru prefers to place this shift at about 7000 BC or earlier, Schoop has argued for a later date around 6500 BC.84 Open, simple shapes are the norm among the red-slipped horizon, with some bearing vertically pierced cylindrical lugs and basket handles. Although there are a few links between the Early Settlements Phase at Höyücek and Çatalhöyük VI–V, on the whole, connections between the Lake District and the Konya Plain are not strong.

From the beginning of Hacılar’s ceramic phase, its potters produced fine wares. Initially pale coloured, they changed to red and brown slipped by levels VII and VI, which were distinguished by a high burnish.85 Decoration was not so common. Some pieces had applied ornamentation in the form of animal shapes and human heads, others, more rare still, were painted with red on cream linear or curvilinear patterns (Figure 4.18: 9). More characteristic was applied ornamentation. In the Elmalı Plain further south, the Late Neolithic period is represented only by surface

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survey sherds collected at a few sites, notably Akçay Höyük, Gökpinar and Tekke where fabric, shape and features such as tubular lugs connect them with Hacılar IX–VII.86

A parallel sequence is emerging at Ulucak, where brown wares are gradually superseded in quantity by red-slipped pottery.87 A small number of cream-coloured sherds in the lowest levels also demonstrate links with the Konya Plain, but the absence of painted pottery at Ulucak and the occurrence of impressed wares, an Aegean feature, highlight regional differences with Lake District sites (Figure 4.18: 10).

Northwest Anatolia

In the northwest, pottery assumes primacy in defining cultural sequences. Özdog˘ an attributes the earliest group of ceramics to Fikirtepe, a site near Istanbul, which has an inventory distinguished by its dark burnished and incised ceramics (Figure 4.19).88 The stratigraphical position of this assemblage below Yarımburgaz Layer 4 type pottery at both Ilıpınar and Demircihöyük, both well dated by radiocarbon analysis, indicates that the Fikirtepe culture, as it has come to be known, spanned some six centuries from 6200 to 6700 BC. At Fikirtepe itself Early (Archaic) and Late (Classical) phases of pottery have been discerned.

The early assemblage, found also at the nearby site of Pendik, comprises vessels with a gritty paste and a dark well-burnished surface, occasionally tending towards pale reddish-brown; at Ilıpınar X they tend to be chaff tempered. Shapes are redolent of other areas—mostly holemouth jars, straight-sided bowls and pots with ledge handles or lugs that are sometimes perforated. Ornamentation is rare and generally incised, and patterns are geometric such as rows of hatched triangles. It seems that the nature of decoration was village specific.

In the Late Phase, pottery is fired red, and a new ware distinguished by a lustrous black burnished surface makes its appearance. Grit is the preferred temper and added in reasonable quantity. Hole-mouth jars lose favor to bowls and pots with an S-profile. Incised decoration and rectangular vessels gain in popularity. Finger and nail impressions begin to appear especially on Ilıpınar IX and Mentes¸e vessels; grooves also make a fleeting appearance. The material from Yarımburgaz Layer 5, the earliest level at that site, and Hoca Çes¸me IV are sometimes seen as transitional between Archaic and Classic Fıkırtepe.89

Fıkırtepe pottery has been found throughout the areas fringing the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara down to the Eskis¸ehir-Kütahya region.90 As¸ag˘ ı Pınar, in Thrace, is one of the northernmost sites, but evidence in the surrounding region is more sporadic, owing to a scarcity of investigation. Over the modern political border, in Bulgaria, it is well represented by what is called the “monochrome phase” at such sites as Koprivets and Krainitsi.91 The earliest levels at Hoca Çes¸me, IV and III are coterminus with the Fikirtepe material (Figure 4.20).92 Tubular lugs and applied ornaments, including animal and human motifs, show strong connections with the Lake District in the southwest and attest to Anatolian roots of the early Hoca Çesme tradition; they are also at home in Thessaly but do not belong to the Aegean or to the

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