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A review by circularcubes
The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Catalhoyuk by Ian Hodder
informative
slow-paced
4.0
I remember learning about Çatalhöyük in an archaeology class as an undergraduate in college, and being completely fascinated by the idea of a prehistoric city that looked nothing at all like what I imagined human settlements to look like (no streets, or doors, with entrances from roofs, etc). The idea that so many people could live together in a proto-city, full of cultural ideals that must have made complete sense to them, but which we can only piece together from archaeological clues - I just can't tell you how enchanting that was to me back then, and even more so now that I've had a chance to read this very fun book.
While The Leopard's Tale is not, perhaps, as accessible as a book written for a general audience would be, it's still admirably readable (even if I had to admit that my eyes did glaze over a tiny bit at some of the more archaeologically technical bits of the book). I appreciated that Hodder stuck to the archaeological facts, and grounded his explanations in a way that reminds readers not to apply too much of our modern, western lens to the society that inhabited Çatalhöyük. I did wish at times that there was a little more speculation on what daily life looked like at Çatalhöyük, since the later chapters that look at society and individuals at Çatalhöyük were my favorites, but I also respect that Hodder stays firmly in the realm of what we definitively know about Çatalhöyük.
I only wish there were more books about Çatalhöyük for me to continue reading and learning about the site (especially since this book is now two decades old)!
While The Leopard's Tale is not, perhaps, as accessible as a book written for a general audience would be, it's still admirably readable (even if I had to admit that my eyes did glaze over a tiny bit at some of the more archaeologically technical bits of the book). I appreciated that Hodder stuck to the archaeological facts, and grounded his explanations in a way that reminds readers not to apply too much of our modern, western lens to the society that inhabited Çatalhöyük. I did wish at times that there was a little more speculation on what daily life looked like at Çatalhöyük, since the later chapters that look at society and individuals at Çatalhöyük were my favorites, but I also respect that Hodder stays firmly in the realm of what we definitively know about Çatalhöyük.
I only wish there were more books about Çatalhöyük for me to continue reading and learning about the site (especially since this book is now two decades old)!