Castles and Coprolites

I love this image. It's another one from Catalhoyuk , a nice midden in the South Area (unit 17739). I published a paper on these deposits in Antiquity which included this image , so I'll let you read the paper to find out more about this area and its significance. Here I wanted to show a close up of this image and the beautiful but daunting complexity of archaeological deposits under the microscope. What we are looking at is a tiny fragment of wall plaster mixed in with ashy debris and charcoal. A few years ago I did a post about these plaster deposits, as they are found within buildings at Catalhoyuk , on floors and walls. By counting the layers we can see the frequency with which the inhabitants were re-plastering and 'repainting' their houses - regular cycles of maintenance on an annual and seasonal basis. This layer in the midden shows a fragment which has fallen off a wall, and somehow made its way into the midden, probably through sweeping and dumping of debris, ...

The lamp was shining on the desk, Shining with all its might: The Postdoc did their best to make The sentences read right – This could seem odd because it was The middle of the night. The lab was quiet as could be, The office without a sound. You could not hear a peep, except The sampler spinning round: No conversations could be heard – No students were around. The Postdoc and the Professor Were working close at hand; They wept like anything to see The quantities of grading planned: “If this were only cleared away”, They said, “it would be grand!” “If seven staff with seven pens Graded for half a year. Do you suppose,” the Postdoc said “That they could get it clear?” “I doubt it,” said the Professor And shed a bitter tear. “The time has come,” the Prof she said, “To talk of other things: Of papers – grants – and funding apps – Of seminars – and things – And if you please reviewer three – You’ll think that pigs have wing...