Back to clay balls

It's been a while since I saw a clay ball and I realize I've missed them! It probably seems strange to think that someone could miss a clay ball - but I have. In looking at them this past week the excited feeling of doing this research comes back to me. I start wondering again about all the familiar questions. Exactly how were they cooking with these? If they were boiling with them - where? Were they heating them in the oven and then placing them in a basket in the hearth area to boil? Or were they using them for parching grain in the hearths?

At least one thing has become clear with the last few years of excavation - the upper levels across the site do not have clay balls. They have gone out of use by level 6. Why did this change happen? How did it happen so quickly? And what implications does this have for the ovens and hearths? İf they are using the ovens and hearths for cooking then we would expect to see those change at the same time we see clay balls change, wouldn't we?

For now I just keep looking at the balls, measuring, weighing and thinking about these questions. How lucky we are to have this job - these clay balls have changed my life. Çatalhöyük has changed all of our lives. I'm sitting in an Internet cafe in Çumra thousands of miles from my home and thinking about life 9000 years ago as I miss my life and family back home. The contradications of it all are really something to consider - all the priviledge that comes with what we do. Enough contemplation - back to work!