Our Excursion to Catalhoyuk

July 14

This has been a day of inhaling and exhaling, and it has left me absolutely breathless...

We visited Catalhoyuk today, which is about one hour from Konya. This is one of the most important neolithic settlements in Anatolia, exemplifying the first examples of a community with a stratified society, division, of labor, arts -- but without scripture and with minimal statehood. They have found no examples of weapons, so the people here seemed to live in peace with one another some 9,000 years ago. They have discovered, based on artifacts and careful study of the bones found, that this appears to be a fairly equal society when it comes to roles of men and women. This is also the place where the Fertile Mother Goddess sculpture was discovered. Therese, I know you are following the blog, and I want you to know that I found the perfect addition to your altar, which I will share with you when I get home...

So many images permeate this day:

*watching the grad students work so meticulously on site, filling in cracks with a fixative via syringes

*learning that one grad students was listening to "oldies" on her Ipod... the Beatles!

*learning that the famous Lucy was so named because the excavators were actually listening to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" when she was found

*seeing the bones of the infant with the two bracelets, feeling that mother's sorrow

*watching the Fulbrighters ascend the hill as we moved from one site to another, a company of friends invested in learning and knowing and understanding

*seeing the low clouds behind Scott, reminiscent of the plains in the States

*assuming the Fertile Mother Goddess stance with Patricia, knowing that we are deeply connected to all the women who came before us, squatting and laboring to give birth... Patricia and I have given birth to eight children, collectively

*standing in that golden field, feeling the wind moving though me and around me, and knowing what it must feel like to be able to truly soar, to truly fly