The ways in which humans became increasingly engaged in their material environment, such that things came to play an active force in their lives, is the subject of this volume in the Catalhoyuk series. The alluvial clays surrounding the site were extremely important in this dynamic involvement. In the absence of local stone, humans extracted and manipulated clay for a wide range of purposes, including the manufacture of bricks, ovens, pots, and figurines. This heavy use of clays led to changes in the local environment that influenced human activity, as indicated in the first section of the volume. In the second section other examples of material technologies are considered, all of which in various ways engaged humans in specific dependencies and relationships. For example, large-scale studies of obsidian trade have drawn a complex picture of changing interactions among humans over time. The volume concludes with an integrated account of the uses of materials at Catalhoyuk based on the analysis of heavy residue samples from all contexts at the site.
