The Goddess from Anatolia
When The Goddess from Anatolia by Mellaart, Hirsch and Balpinar was published in late 1989, the simmering, five-year-long Çatal Hüyük controversy came to a boil. The character of the debate over James Mellaart’s Neolithic Anatolian kilim hypothesis shifted abruptly. It suddenly focused on the credibility of 44 startling new drawings of “reconstructed” wall paintings. Complex issues, such as design diffusion and historical continuity, became irrelevant.
The Çatal Hüyük ruckus that erupted in the rug community in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was impossible to ignore, and I published two related articles in Oriental Rug Review. The Update posted below was the second, written for the December 1992/January 1993 issue (Vol. XIII, No. 2) at the request of the editor. The earlier article, with a detailed examination of questionable “reconstructions,” is posted separately. A few illustrations have been added to each. I want to provide a little background on this dispute and summarize the factors that prompted my involvement in it.
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