Çatalhöyük facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Çatalhöyük |
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Çatalhöyük in 2019
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| Type | Settlement |
| Location | Kucukkoy, Konya, Turkey |
| Built | c. 7100 BC |
| Official name: Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük | |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, iv |
| Designated | 2012 (36th session) |
| Reference no. | 1405 |
| Region | Western Asia |
Çatalhöyük is a very famous ancient settlement located in southern Anatolia in modern Turkey. The name comes from the Turkish words for fork and mound. It is known to archaeologists as a tell mound. This special mound formed as humans lived in the same spot for centuries. People lived there during the New Stone Age and Copper Age. It was a bustling proto-city between roughly 7500 BC and 5600 BC. The town looked out across the flat and fertile Konya Plain. It sat near the modern city of Konya, which was called ancient Iconium. Today, it is recognized around the world as an important UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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What Did Archaeologists Find at Çatalhöyük?
The site has two large hills created by human buildings over time. These hills sit next to an ancient dried riverbed of the Çarşamba River. The Eastern Mound is the biggest and oldest part of the town. People built houses there during the early farming period. Later on, groups left stray graves from the Bronze Age on the hill. People also settled there in the Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras. Diggers even found ancient Byzantine coins and an old Roman fort on top. The Western Mound was built later during the early Chalcolithic period.
An archaeologist named James Mellaart discovered this ancient town in 1958. He conducted surveys across the dusty landscape of the Konya Plain. Mellaart led four big digging seasons between 1961 and 1965. His discoveries proved that central Anatolia was an advanced cultural center long ago. He uncovered 18 levels of stacked houses built right on top of each other. Later on, Mellaart was involved in a controversy and digging at the site stopped for many years.
A British archaeologist named Ian Hodder restarted research work at the site in 1993. Hodder worked for many years with teams from the University of Cambridge. He wanted to test new scientific ideas called post-processual archaeology. His team used computers, modern chemical tests, and careful digital recording methods. They studied everything from plant pollen to tiny bits of dirt. In 2025, a team led by Arkadiusz Marciniak from Poznań University found an ancient ceremonial building. Excavations continue today under team leaders from Anadolu University.
Scientists have uncovered thousands of fascinating objects preserved in the ancient soil. They found pieces of early textiles, which are woven fabrics that rarely survive. Workers also found sharp tools called lithics made from shiny volcanic glass named obsidian. These stone tools included arrow points, knives, scrapers, and curved sickle blades. Diggers also found heavy stone axes used for chopping wood and building. They recovered over 2,500 small clay figures shaped like people and local wild animals.
Daily Life and Honeycomb Houses
Life inside this ancient settlement was very unique and exciting. The town had no real streets, alleys, or open public pathways. Instead, people built their homes tightly packed together like a giant honeycomb. Every home was built out of sturdy sun-dried mudbrick blocks. Because the buildings touched, people walked across flat rooftops to travel around. The rooftops acted like the town squares and streets of the community. In good weather, families worked, talked, and baked together on the roofs.
To get into a home, a person climbed down a wooden ladder. The entrance was a hole built right into the flat plaster ceiling. This roof hole was also the only window and chimney for the house. It let in fresh air and let out smoke from the cooking hearth. Inside, the walls were coated with clean, bright white plaster. The main room had raised platforms for sitting, working, and sleeping. A secondary side room was used to store dried grain and tools.
Families kept their living spaces neat, swept, and very clean. Archaeologists found almost no household trash left on the floors inside the rooms. Instead, people carried their garbage outside the village to large rubbish heaps called midden piles. These heaps contained broken pots, fireplace ash, and leftover animal bones. When an old house grew weak, the owners knocked down the roof. They filled the lower walls with rubble and built a new home on top. This constant rebuilding formed the massive hill we see today.
The people honored their family members by burying them inside their own houses. Graves were dug right under the plastered floors, sleeping platforms, and hearths. Bodies were placed in tightly flexed poses and wrapped in mats or baskets. Archaeologists found women buried with useful tools like stone spinning whorls for making thread. Men were often buried with fine obsidian hunting tools and weapons. Some families decorated their ancestors with natural colors like red ochre, cinnabar, and green malachite.
Ancient Art, Murals, and Early Beliefs
The houses of Çatalhöyük were decorated with amazing, colorful art painted on plaster walls. Residents created striking murals using mineral paints mixed with water or fat. Many wall paintings show energetic hunting scenes with running hunters and animals. Artists painted massive wild aurochs, giant stags, and fast running deer. Other scenes show large vultures flying over figures on the ground. People also sculpted raised animal figures, called reliefs, directly out of plaster on the walls.
One famous wall painting shows a town with two smoking mountain peaks behind it. Many experts believe this painting represents the nearby twin volcano of Mount Hasan. If true, it might be the world's oldest map and earliest landscape view. However, some researchers think the pattern shows a spotted leopard skin instead. Along with murals, people mounted real skull bones and horns into the walls. They covered these animal skulls with smooth plaster to create dramatic home displays.
The site is famous for its tiny statues carved from stone and clay. Craftsmen carved these figures from marble, limestone, basalt, and soft alabaster. The most famous sculpture is the clay Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük. This seated figure rests her hands on two powerful wild leopards. Early diggers thought these statues represented an all-powerful Mother Goddess or female deity. However, modern studies show that most discovered figures actually show wild animals rather than humans.
Scholars continue to study what these ancient clay artworks truly meant. Famous folklorist Uku Masing suggested the art reflected ancient hunting stories and nature beliefs. Archaeologist Lynn Meskell noted that human female figurines make up only a tiny fraction of finds. Modern experts like Ian Hodder found that power was shared equally among the people. The village did not show signs of rule by a matriarchy or a patriarchy. Instead, art and rituals were part of regular daily life for everyone.
How the Ancient Society Worked
Çatalhöyük seems to have been an egalitarian society where people lived as equals. Archaeologists have found no grand palaces, royal tombs, or giant mansions anywhere. There are no signs of a ruling king or a powerful class of priests. Instead, every family lived in houses that were built very similarly in size. Studies of human skeletons show that boys and girls ate similar healthy food. This shows that the town had very little social division between different community members.
Children learned essential everyday skills by watching their parents work closely at home. They watched adults shape mud bricks, build clay ovens, and weave dried reeds. Youngsters also learned to flake sharp tools out of dark volcanic glass. The community was closely connected through shared trade, craftwork, and family ties. Some historians, like Murray Bookchin, noted the strong sharing traditions of the village. Later research shows families shared large outdoor ovens, while keeping some private tools like quern-stone grain grinders.
Trading was an important way for the villagers to gather rare items. The town was a major production center for beautiful pottery and tools. Craftsmen shaped volcanic glass from nearby mountains into shiny mirrors, points, and knives. Traders exchanged this valuable obsidian for beautiful seashells brought from the Mediterranean Sea. They also traded with groups who carried fine flint stones all the way from Syria. These exchange networks connected the town to different cultures across the ancient world.
Farming, Herding, and Food
The people of Çatalhöyük were successful early farmers who worked the land nearby. They grew several varieties of domesticated wheat along with nutritious barley. Planting different kinds of grains helped protect their food supply if bad weather struck. Farmers also planted protein-rich crops like peas and lentils in the moist soil. Outside the village, people gathered wild foods like sweet almonds, wild pistachios, and wild berries. They stored surplus grain in dry clay bins inside their cool storage rooms.
Families kept herds of domesticated sheep and goats near the village edge. Scientists discovered tiny milk protein traces on the inside of broken clay bowls. This shows that the villagers enjoyed drinking milk and making dairy foods. Although they kept herds, the villagers still loved to go out hunting wild game. They hunted wild boar, ducks, geese, fast hares, and clever foxes. They also caught fresh fish from the winding river channels running through the plain.
Cooking was an important daily event for every family in the village. Women and men used clay ovens with dome-shaped tops to bake flatbreads. They ground wheat grains into coarse flour using rough stone slabs and grinders. Cooks simmered hot grain porridge over open fire pits lined with stones. Food waste was cleared away regularly, keeping the living areas tidy and pleasant. Their balanced diet of grains, dairy, and wild meat kept the community healthy for generations.
Modern Tourism and the Museum
Visitors from across the world come to see this wonderful ancient wonder. A large protective roof covers the active digging trenches to stop rain damage. In 2023, the local Konya Municipality opened a large modern visitor museum. The museum includes eight fascinating rooms full of real artifacts, models, and interactive screens. Guests can walk through a reconstructed ancient home to see what living there felt like. Travelers can also visit a cozy cafe and bookshop added to the grounds.
Çatalhöyük helps scientists understand how wandering hunters first settled down into peaceful farming towns. It shows that ancient people built huge, thriving communities without kings, queens, or wide streets. By studying the artwork, bones, and mudbrick walls, researchers discover new clues each year. This remarkable town on the Turkish plains remains one of history's greatest human treasures.
Images for kids
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Deep trenches in the site
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Neolithic hunters attacking an aurochs, Museum of Anatolian Civilisations
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See also
In Spanish: Çatalhöyük para niños
- Körtiktepe
- Göbekli Tepe
- Boncuklu Höyük
- Cities of the ancient Near East
- Cucuteni–Trypillian culture
- Kamyana Mohyla
- List of largest cities throughout history
- List of Stone Age art
- Matriarchy
- Neolithic Revolution
- Old Europe (archaeology)
- Sacred bull
- Venus figurines
