ABSTRACT
It has long been appreciated that 'the house' was the primary medium through which society was constituted at Catalhoyuk. This chapter looks at the issue of the structures' 'birth', arguing that just as the end of these houses' lives was carefully stage-managed, their foundation was similarly marked by a suite of community-wide traditions. During the Early Neolithic (EN), there was a strong association between projectiles and house foundation, and foundational activities primarily comprised the modification and burial of large obsidian projectile preforms. The later EN witnessed the loss of obsidian hoarding in foundation tradition but a range of other practices, such as child burials, fumigation and feasting events, together with the manufacture of axes, and ceramic vessels, existed some of which may have conceptually filled the void of hoards. Clusters of bone associated with construction phases have also been found as are the remains of communal meals that marked a building's foundation.
