56 i Flora Unveiled
We relate this story because we believe that the flooding of Binhu Village may be telling
us something important about agricultural symbolism at Çatalhüyük. As a consequence of
its proximity to the Çarsamba river, Çatalhüyük experienced flooding every spring. During
these months, much of the surrounding area was submerged, which is the primary reason
archaeologists believe that crops must have been planted on permanent dry ground located
as far away as 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) from the settlement. What was the impact of
the annual spring floods on the settlement’s rodent population? It seems likely that some-
thing similar to what the people of Binhu Village experience may have occurred annually at
Çatalhüyük. Displaced rodents, mainly mice, would have swarmed through the settlement
and adjacent dry ground, some of which may have been planted with crops. The annual
spring floods would only have exacerbated a rodent problem that plagued Çatalhüyük
throughout the year. Hodder’s team has found clear evidence for severe mouse infestations
in the houses, often associated with food storage bins.^55
Without knowing the precise locations of Çatalhüyük’s farmland, it is difficult to assess
the possible impact of the spring floods on the influx of rodents. Still, assuming the major-
ity of the crops were planted at remote locations at elevations safely above the flood- zone
(but relatively close to the high- water mark), masses of field mice could have been driven
into the planted fields in the spring by the encroaching flood water. Any crops planted
closer to home, on nearby hills and hummocks, would almost certainly have become
infested. What defenses did the farmers of Çatalhüyük have against such rodent plagues?
In the fields, small wild carnivores— snakes, owls, weasels, and foxes—would have helped
to keep the rodent populations in check.^56 Domesticated dogs might also have been of
some use in combating the rodent menace. But the farmers of Çatalhüyük may have had
an even more potent weapon in their never- ending war against rodents: domesticated cats.
And herein lies the possible connection to the agricultural symbolism at Çatalhüyük.
It was once thought that cats were first domesticated during the Bronze Age in Egypt.
That cats were revered and that they attained cultic status in ancient Egypt, an area that was
also subject to periodic inundation and that relied heavily on grain crops and the storage
of those crops, has been thoroughly documented.^57 However, there is now clear evidence
that cat domestication coincided with the early stages of agriculture in the Neolithic, when
“grain storage attracted large mice populations” and cats were “encouraged to settle in vil-
lages to control the mice.”^58 A cat was found buried in association with a human at the
archeological site of Shillourokambos in Cyprus, demonstrating that “a close relation had
developed by ~9500 years ago.”^59 Given the crucial importance of the grain crop to human
survival, it would not be surprising to find artworks honoring cats in Neolithic settlements.
At Shillourokambos, a stone carving of a head, believed to represent a cat- human hybrid has
been found (Figure 3.13). The stone sculpture is contemporary with the cat burial. According
to Jean Guilaine, “This representation might belong to a mythology of continental origin
transferred to the island with other components of the process of ‘neolithization.’ But it
might also represent a concern linked to an ideology elaborated by the first agro- pastoralists
of the island.”^60
At Çatalhüyük, felines are represented by the numerous impressive images of paired
“leopards,” typically in the form of painted wall reliefs. In Figure 3.14, the “leopard” on
the right appears to be pregnant, suggesting a mated couple. Intriguingly, directly below
the swollen belly of the female there is a second painting of a “Tree of Life” motif with