More about Çatalhöyük

from: The Dorak Affair by Kenneth Pearson & Patricia Conner

"Its list of inventions was astonishing. Here ... the world's first mirrors, its first pottery, its first textiles, its first wooden vessels, and its first paintings brushed onto man-made walls. The region provided a peculiar ecological niche in which wild animals grew to immense proportions, and their size was venerated in Çatal's murals. From the distant hills, the ancient tribe supplemented its diet with apples, juniper berries, acorns, pistachio nuts, and they collected hackberries for their wine. They wove animal hair into felt, and made every use of the bones that remained after they had eaten. Ribs were transformed into spoons, knees into scoops. They played with knuckle bones in mysterious games, and decorated horns for ritual."

'The world's first mirrors' were made of obsidian, a piece large (or small) enough to be held in the hand, with a highly polished flat reflective surface. Ten were found, each buried with the body of a woman. The ubiquitous statuary of twinned female images comes to mind: whether or not these are the first, clearly at Çatalhöyük the doubling mirrors suggest had already begun: from those black depths, who was looking back, the self or another?