“This room is a shrine, and these are all symbols of regeneration. Resurrection, if you will.”
Griffin spoke up. “To these people, this symbolic grouping would have been as familiar as an empty cross on Easter morning would be to a Christian. Remember where the dead are buried.”
Cassie made the connection. “I’m assuming if your nearest and dearest are sleeping under the floor, it’s a way of asking the goddess to restore them somehow.”
Aydin nodded. “Yes, that is quite correct. A constant reminder that the goddess eternally regenerates life and that nothing is ever lost.”
Cassie raised her eyebrows. “Those are pretty abstract ideas. It doesn’t sound to me like the people here were all that primitive.”
“They weren’t.” Fred climbed back up to the rim to join the others. “That’s more propaganda. History books like to preach that Mesopotamia was the first sophisticated culture on the planet with the first cities. Overlord culture really likes to promote that idea because Mesopotamia’s city-states invented chronic siege warfare. But Catal Huyuk was thriving four thousand years before Uruk was even built.”
“How long have people been living here?”
“The site was occupied as early as 7000 BCE,” Griffin replied. “It may have contained as many as ten thousand inhabitants.”
“We’ve only scratched the surface in terms of what’s here,” Fred added. “And I mean that literally. Who knows what else we’ll dig up over the next decade.”
Cassie’s eyes swept the entire site and the people working diligently at the bottom of the pit, scraping away debris in search of lost treasure. “What happened to them all? The people, I mean.”
“They left,” Erik said casually.
The pythia looked at him skeptically. “You’re kidding, right?
“Nope.”
“The mound was abandoned a few times in its history,” Ozgur elaborated. “We think that the earlier evacuations had to do with a prolonged drought which made farming here temporarily difficult.”
His assistant continued. “There’s another dig site called Catal Huyuk West where they moved for a while before coming back here. And then they left for good in the mid-sixth millennium BCE.”
“Around 5500 BCE, they just pulled up stakes?” Cassie paused as a thought struck her. “That date sounds awfully familiar.” She stared at Griffin. “Isn’t that when…” She trailed off.
The scrivener beamed at her as if she were his star pupil. “I just knew you were paying attention. Erik didn’t think so, but I was sure of it!”
“The flood.” She flashed back to their conversation overlooking the Bosporus. “Didn’t you say the Black Sea flooded around 5600 BCE?”
“Quite right.”
“There is a very strong possibility that a connection exists between the flood and the abandonment of the site,” Ozgur concurred. “The Arkana is still trying to find evidence to support the theory, but it seems very likely that some refugees from the deluge wandered in this direction.”
“Did your team find any sign that there was a battle here?”
“There is some evidence of fire at the topmost layer of the dig but nothing conclusive,” the trove keeper replied.
“There’s a lot more evidence of disruption at Hacilar,” offered Fred. “That’s another Neolithic settlement about a hundred miles southwest of here. We know that Hacilar was destroyed by fire and when it was rebuilt, there was a wall around it.”
“Overlord invaders?” Cassie guessed.
“I believe it was a bit too early for that,” Griffin countered. “More likely it was roving bands of refugees, looting and pillaging on a small scale just to meet their immediate needs. There was no indication of organized military activity until much later, but the Anatolian plateau definitely shows signs of destabilization around the mid-sixth millennium.”
“For the first time, dead bodies which had suffered violence, mainly children, were found in the burned debris at Hacilar,” Ozgur said softly.
“Whether it was overlord culture or not,” Cassie observed, “it sounds like the beginning of the end to me.”
Aydin Ozgur silently turned and led the others away from the dig site.
Chapter 14 – The Lady and the Lions
The trove keeper carefully retraced his steps along the rim and over the gravel path leading back to the site building. His companions followed in silence. When the old man reached the office, he motioned for the others to precede him inside. “Come in, please, and rest yourselves.”
They filed in cautiously, not wanting to knock him off balance by rushing through the door. It was sweltering inside. Even though the windows were open, the only air flow was provided by a tired ceiling fan. The papers on Ozgur’s desk wafted listlessly in the artificial breeze.
Cassie looked around the room. There was a desk, several chairs, and benches for visitors and metal filing cabinets everywhere. On the floor in the corners, boxes of rocks and other small objects were stacked.
“I’m sorry we have no proper reception room,” the trove keeper apologized. “May I offer you coffee or tea?”
The three visitors drew chairs around the desk and waited patiently while Fred assisted Ozgur in preparing refreshments.
Cassie had asked for coffee, but she wasn’t ready for the strong sweet concoction when she took her first sip. “Now I know why it’s served in a tiny little cup. This carries quite a kick, doesn’t it?”
Her companions grinned knowingly.
“Turkish coffee is very strong,” Aydin agreed. “It is always brewed with sugar and cardamom.”
“It’s really good,” Cassie reassured him, taking another sip, “but no refills for me, thank you.”
Erik and Griffin had opted for tea which was served Russian-style in tall glasses instead of cups. They were all too polite to ask for something cold to drink.
“How are you getting on with the team that’s running the expedition?” Griffin asked, blowing on his tea to cool it down.
Fred grimaced.
Aydin interpreted his look. “We don’t rock the boat as you would say. A man named Percival who is on the lead team seems to be trying very hard to disprove the conclusions of James Mellaart, the original discoverer of the site. Based on what he found here, Mellaart believed that Catal Huyuk
