ABSTRACT
Arlette's photographs of wall paintings and goddess sculptures soon became staple illustrations for textbook discussions of the Neolithic period. Carolyn Hamilton, a social anthropologist from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, who had come to atalhyk for a month to observe the archaeologists at work, immediately, adopted the phrase 'fault lines' to describe the conflicts she saw brewing among the team. Ian also felt that he and James Mellaart needed to perform the symbolic passing of the torch, a ritual that could only take place on atalhyk's hallowed soil. For Mellaart, it might represent a cleansing ritual that could help erase the stain on his reputation, a homecoming that would reunite him with the site of his life's greatest achievement. For Ian Hodder, atalhyk was his one big chance to prove that his post-processual rebellion against the New Archaeology was more than just theoretical pie in the sky.
