Michael Balter

Having finished this book, I'm wondering whether I even should have bothered. For one, it's now coming up on being twenty years old, which means that it's become dated. Two, while the author managed to become the designated "biographer" of the dig site, Balter's recent career as at least being a "boat-rocker" when it comes to making accusations of sexual and administrative misconduct does inevitably breed doubt, even if the man is picking the right fights (I haven't learned enough yet to pass personal judgement). All this being the case, why you're mostly reading this book is for what it says about the intellectual evolution of the discipline of archaeology up to about 2004, and for biographical background on James Mellaart (the man who began excavating the site) and Ian Hodder. Hodder, who reopened work at Catalhoyuk, largely did so as a project that might strengthen the way archaeology is conducted.

Barring a new survey of the site, one might be best advised to seek out Hodder's own lectures on Catalhoyuk (just visit YouTube), as a way of getting some sense of how thinking about Catalhoyuk has changed since Balter published his book.… (more)