Crop Domestication and Gender j 5555 55
The Cats of Çatalhüyük
Like the Neolithic inhabitants of Çatalhüyük, modern villagers along the banks of
Dongting Lake in the Hunan province of China are used to periodic flooding. Every year
during the flooding season, rodents, especially the eastern field mouse, flee their water-
logged homes and invade nearby rice paddies, causing significant crop losses. In the sum-
mer of 2007, however, the crop losses caused by mice were catastrophic. From September to
June, a prolonged drought had caused Lake Dongting to recede more than usual, which led
to an explosion of the rodent population within the newly exposed lake bed. In mid- June,
torrential rains brought devastating floods throughout the region. To relieve pressure on
dams, engineers opened the sluice gates, causing a sudden rise in the level of the lake. As a
consequence, millions of mice, driven from their lake bed burrows, took up residence in the
rice paddies of Binhu. Unfortunately, most of the natural predators of the mice—snakes,
owls, weasels, and cats—had been killed off earlier by the profligate use of pesticides, so
there was no defense against the rodent onslaught. According to one farmer, the scritching
of their little teeth was deafening as the field mice nibbled at the stalks and grains through
the night. By morning, the verdant paddies of Binhu, upon which the village depended for
its livelihood, were reduced to stubble.^54Figure 3.12 Clay ball with leaf impressions.
From Atalay, Sonya (2003), Domesticating clay. Engaging with 'They': The Social Life of Clay Balls from
Çatalhöyük, Turkey and Public Archaeology for Indigenous Communities. Ph.D. Dissertation. UC Berkeley
Anthropology Department.