Microartifactual floor patterning: the case at Çatalhöyük

"Microartifact studies are a growing area of analysis, which generally focus on the density of materials in floor deposits as a means of identifying in situ traces of activities. The underlying assumption is that due to variety of taphonomic factors microartifacts are more likely to preserve evidence of such activities than either larger artifacts or permanent features. This is challenged by analysis of the data from Building 1 at Çatalhöyük, which indicates that on stratigraphically complex sites it is likely that a substantial component of the microartifact assemblage in floors is due to other factors. This is demonstrated by comparison of microartifact densities in floor deposits to other types of deposit such as wall plaster, dating of microartifacts and detailed examination of the nature of the material from floor assemblages. While microartifactual material from floor deposits is of interest, it is a complicated phenomenon, and remains from other contexts, particularly the fills of small transient features, may be more useful for studying microartifactual evidence of activities."