Editing Çatalhöyük

{{short description|Archaeological site in Turkey}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Çatalhüyük|Çatalhüyük, Ceyhan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox ancient site
 | name                 = Çatalhöyük
 | native_name          = 
 | alternate_name       = 
 | image                = Çatalhöyük, 7400 BC, Konya, Turkey - UNESCO World Heritage Site, 08.jpg
 | image_size           = 300
 | alt                  = 
 | caption              = Ruins of Çatalhöyük
 | map_type             = Turkey#Near East#West Asia
 | map_alt              = 
 | map_size             = 300
 | relief               = yes
 | coordinates          = {{coord|37|40|00|N|32|49|41|E|display=inline,title}}
 | location             = Küçükköy, [[Konya Province]], Turkey
 | region               = [[Anatolia]]
 | type                 = Settlement
 | part_of              = 
 | length               = 
 | width                = 
 | area                 = 
 | height               = 
 | builder              = 
 | material             = 
 | built                = Approximately 7100 BC; {{time interval|-7100}} ago
 | abandoned            = Approximately 5700 BC; {{time interval|-5700}} ago
 | epochs               = [[Neolithic]] to [[Chalcolithic]]
 | cultures             = 
 | dependency_of        = 
 | occupants            = 
 | event                = 
 | excavations          = 
  | archaeologists       = 
  | condition            = 
  | ownership            = 
  | management           = 
  | public_access        = 
  | website              = <!-- {{URL|http://catalhoyuk.com/|catalhoyuk.com}} -->
 |notes = 
 | designation1         = WHS
 | designation1_offname = Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük
 | designation1_date    = 2012 <small>(36th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small>
 | designation1_number  = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405 1405]
 | designation1_criteria = iii, iv
 | designation1_type    = Cultural
 | designation1_free1name = Region
 | designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Western Asia|Western Asia]] 
}}
[[File:Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Çatalhöyük as of 2013.jpg|thumb|Calibrated carbon-14 dates for Çatalhöyük, as of 2013<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shukurov |first1=Anvar |last2=Sarson |first2=Graeme R. |last3=Gangal |first3=Kavita |title=The Near-Eastern Roots of the Neolithic in South Asia |journal=PLOS ONE |date=7 May 2014 |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=Appendix S1 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0095714 |pmid=24806472 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=4012948 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...995714G |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]

'''Çatalhöyük''' (English: Chatalhoyuk {{IPAc-en|,|tS|a:|t|a:|l|'|h|u:|y|U|k}} {{Respell|cha|tal|HOO|yuhk}}; {{IPA|tr|tʃaˈtaɫhœjyc}}; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "[[tumulus]]") is a [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] (a mounded accretion due to long-term human settlement) of a very large [[Neolithic]] and [[Chalcolithic]] [[proto-city]] settlement in southern [[Anatolia]], which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5600 BC and flourished around 7000 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Renfrew|first=Colin|date=2006|title=Inception of agriculture and rearing in the Middle East|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S163106830500134X|journal=Human Palaeontology and Prehistory|volume=5|issue=1 |pages=395–404|doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2005.10.012 |bibcode=2006CRPal...5..395R }}</ref> In July 2012, it was inscribed as a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405] Çatalhöyük entry on the UNESCO World Heritage List site</ref>

Çatalhöyük overlooks the [[Konya Plain]], southeast of the present-day city of [[Konya]] (ancient [[Iconium]]) in [[Turkey]], approximately {{convert|140|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the twin-coned volcano of [[Mount Hasan]]. The eastern settlement forms a mound that would have risen about {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=on}} above the plain at the time of the latest Neolithic occupation. There is also a smaller settlement mound to the west and a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] settlement a few hundred meters to the east. The prehistoric mound settlements were abandoned before the [[Bronze Age]]. A channel of the Çarşamba River once flowed between the two mounds, and the settlement was built on [[alluvium|alluvial clay]] which may have been favorable for early agriculture. Currently, the closest river is the [[Euphrates]].

==Archaeology==
[[File:MUFT_-_Catal_Höyük_Modell.jpg|left|thumb|200px| Model of the neolithic settlement (7300 BC) of Catal Höyük]]

The site was first excavated by [[James Mellaart]] in 1958. He later led a team which further excavated there for four seasons between 1961 and 1965.<ref>J. Mellaart, Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, first preliminary report: 1961. Anatolian Studies, vol. 12, pp. 41–65, 1962</ref><ref>J. Mellaart, Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, second preliminary report: 1962. Anatolian Studies, vol. 13, pp. 43–103, 1963</ref><ref>J. Mellaart, Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, third preliminary report: 1963. Anatolian Studies, vol. 14, pp. 39–119, 1964</ref><ref>J. Mellaart, Excavations at Çatal Hüyük, fourth preliminary report: at 1965. Anatolian Studies, vol. 16, pp. 15–191, 1966</ref> These excavations revealed this section of Anatolia as a centre of advanced culture in the Neolithic period.<ref name=gard>{{cite book | first = Fred S. | last = Kleiner |author2=Mamiya, Christin J.  | year = 2006 | title = Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective: Volume 1 | edition = Twelfth | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = Belmont, California | isbn = 978-0-495-00479-0 | pages = 12–4}}</ref> Excavation revealed 18 successive layers of buildings signifying various stages of the settlement and eras of history. The bottom layer of buildings can be dated as early as 7100 BC while the top layer of the later West Mound is from 5600 BC.<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/tale-of-two-tells-dating-the-catalhoyuk-west-mound/01F804089ECB6CC4AA6E47D452E3B9D1/core-reader] David Orton et al., A tale of two tells: dating the Çatalhöyük West Mound, Antiquity, vol. 92, iss. 363, pp. 620–639, June 2018</ref>

Mellaart was banned from Turkey for his involvement in the [[Dorak affair]], in which he published drawings of supposedly important Bronze Age artifacts that later went missing.<ref>Kenneth Pearson and Patricia Connor, The Dorak affair, New York, Atheneum, 1968</ref> After this scandal, the site lay idle until 1993, when excavations began under the leadership of [[Ian Hodder]], then at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>I. Hodder, Çatalhöyük, Anatolian Archaeology, vol. 4, pp. 8–10, 1998</ref><ref>I. Hodder, Getting to the Bottom of Thing: Çatalhöyük 1999, Anatolian Archaeology, vol. 5, pp. 4–7, 1999</ref><ref>I. Hodder, Çatalhöyük, Anatolian Archaeology, vol. 8, pp. 5–7, 2002</ref><ref>I. Hodder, A New Phase of Excavation at Çatalhöyük, Anatolian Archaeology, vol. 9, pp. 9–11, 2003</ref><ref>[http://www.catalhoyuk.com/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Archive_Report_2008.pdf] Çatalhöyük: Excavations of a Neolithic Anatolian Höyük – Çatalhöyük Archive Report 2008</ref> The Hodder-led excavations ended in 2018.<ref>Hodder, Ian, ed., "Çatalhöyük Excavations: The 2009-2017 Seasons", British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 2023 {{ISBN|978-1912090204 }}</ref> Hodder, a former student of Mellaart, chose the site as the first "real world" test of his controversial theory of [[post-processual archaeology]].<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.11141/ia.42.7 | issue=42 | title=Analog to Digital: Transitions in Theory and Practice in Archaeological Photography at Çatalhöyük | year=2016 | journal=Internet Archaeology | last1 = Morgan | first1 = Colleen | last2 = University | url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/107945/1/Internet_Archaeology_final.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/107945/1/Internet_Archaeology_final.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live | doi-access=free }}</ref> The site has always had a strong research emphasis upon engagement with digital methodologies, driven by the project's experimental and reflexive methodological framework.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.11141/ia.47.1 | issue=47 | title='The Rise of the Machine': the impact of digital tablet recording in the field at Çatalhöyük | year=2018 | journal=Internet Archaeology | last1 = Taylor | first1 = James | last2 = Issavi | first2 = Justine | last3 = Berggren | first3 = Åsa | last4 = Lukas | first4 = Dominik | last5 = Mazzucato | first5 = Camilla | last6 = Tung | first6 = Burcu | last7 = Dell'Unto | first7 = Nicoló| doi-access = free }}</ref> According to Mickel, Hodder's Çatalhöyük Research Project (ÇRP) established itself as a site for progressive methodologies{{dash}}in terms of adaptable and democratized recording, integration of computerized technologies, sampling strategies, and community involvement."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mickel |first1=Allison |title=Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent |date=2021 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |location=Louisville |isbn=9781646421152 |pages=6–7}}</ref>

New excavations are being directed by [[Ali Umut Türkcan]] from [[Anadolu University]].

==Culture==
[[File:Catal Hüyük EL.JPG|thumb|200px|On-site restoration of a typical interior]]
[[File:Çatalhöyük excavations ..jpg|thumb|200px|The earliest excavations of the site]]
[[File:Çatalhöyük_trench.jpg|thumb|200px|Deep trenches in the site]] 
<!--DO NOT try to correct the name of this picture to "CatalHüyük Restauration B.JPG", it will just mess it up. Thank you.-->
[[File:Catalhöyük, erste Großsiedlung der Menschheit (CC by 4.0).webm|thumb|Animation showing a reconstruction of Catalhöyük, German narration with English subtitles]]
Çatalhöyük was composed entirely of domestic buildings with no obvious public buildings. While some of the larger rooms have rather ornate [[murals]], the purpose of others remains unclear.<ref name=gard/>

Initial estimates suggested an average population of between 5,000 and 7,000. However, more recent work using revised ideas of the distribution of residential buildings, and employing archaeological and ethnographic data exploring building use, suggests that between 600 and 800 people would have lived at Çatalhöyük East during an average year during the Middle phase (6700–6500 BC).<ref name="c841">{{cite journal |last=Kuijt |first=Ian |last2=Marciniak |first2=Arkadiusz |date=2024 |title=How many people lived in the world’s earliest villages? Reconsidering community size and population pressure at Neolithic Çatalhöyük |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |volume=74 |page=101573 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101573}}</ref>

The sites were set up as large numbers of buildings clustered together. Households looked to their neighbors for help, trade, and possible marriage for their children.<ref name="Maynes">{{cite book|last1=Maynes|first1=Mary Jo|last2=Waltner|first2=Ann|title=The Family: A World History|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-19-530476-3}}</ref> The inhabitants lived in [[mudbrick]] houses that were crammed together in an aggregate structure. No footpaths or streets were used between the dwellings, which were clustered in a honeycomb-like maze. Most were accessed by holes in the ceiling and doors on the side of the houses, with doors reached by ladders and stairs. The rooftops were effectively streets. The ceiling openings also served as the only source of ventilation, allowing smoke from the houses' open hearths and ovens to escape. 
<!--{{Neolithic}}-->
Houses had [[plaster]] interiors accessed by squared-off timber ladders or steep stairs. These were usually on the south wall of the room, as were [[cooking hearth]]s and ovens. The main rooms contained raised platforms that may have been used for a range of domestic activities. Typical houses contained two rooms for everyday activity, such as cooking and crafting.<ref name="Maynes" /> All interior walls and platforms were plastered to a smooth finish.<ref name="gard" /> Ancillary rooms were used as storage, and were accessed through low openings from main rooms.

All rooms were kept scrupulously clean. Archaeologists identified very little rubbish in the buildings, finding [[midden]]s outside the ruins, with sewage and [[food waste]], as well as significant amounts of ash from burning wood, reeds, and animal dung.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link1=Lisa-Marie Shillito |last1=Shillito |first1=Lisa-Marie |last2=Matthews |first2=Wendy |last3=Almond |first3=Matthew |last4=Bull |first4=Ian D. |title=The microstratigraphy of middens: capturing daily routine in rubbish at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey |journal=Antiquity |date=2011 |volume=85 |issue=329 |pages=1024–1038 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00068460 |s2cid=56433872 |url=http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/23595/1/antiquitymiddenspaper.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/23595/1/antiquitymiddenspaper.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live }}</ref> In good weather, many daily activities may also have taken place on the rooftops, which may have formed a plaza. In later periods, large communal ovens appear to have been built on these rooftops. Over time, houses were renewed by partial demolition and rebuilding on a foundation of rubble, which was how the mound was gradually built up. As many as eighteen levels of settlement have been uncovered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405/|title=Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref>

As a part of ritual life, the people of Çatalhöyük buried their dead within the village.<ref name=Maynes/> Human remains have been found in pits beneath the floors and especially beneath hearths, the platforms within the main rooms, and beds. Bodies were tightly flexed before burial and were often placed in [[baskets]] or wound and wrapped in reed mats. Disarticulated bones in some graves suggest that bodies may have been exposed in the open air for a time before the bones were gathered and buried. In some cases, graves were disturbed, and the individual's head removed from the skeleton. These heads may have been used in rituals, as some were found in other areas of the community. In a woman's grave, [[spindle whorl|spinning whorls]] were recovered and in a man's grave, [[stone axes]].<ref name=Maynes/> Some [[Plastered human skulls|skulls were plastered]] and painted with [[ochre]] to recreate faces, a custom more characteristic of Neolithic sites in Syria and Neolithic [[Jericho]] than at sites closer by.
[[File:Detail of the mural showing the hind part of the aurochs, a deer and hunters..jpg|thumb|left|Detail of the mural showing the hind part of the aurochs, a deer and hunters]]
Vivid [[murals]] and [[figurine]]s are found throughout the settlement on interior and exterior walls. Distinctive clay figurines of women, notably the [[Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük]], have been found in the upper levels of the site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/amazing-intact-statue-of-a-woman-unearthed-at-the-neolithic-city-of-catalhoyuk-in-turkey/ |title=Incredible discovery of intact female figurine from neolithic era in Turkey &#124; Ars Technica |date=16 September 2016 }}</ref> Although no identifiable temples have been found, the graves, murals, and figurines suggest that the people of Çatalhöyük had a religion rich in symbols. Rooms with concentrations of these items may have been [[shrine]]s or public meeting areas. Predominant images include men with erect phalluses, hunting scenes, red images of the now extinct [[aurochs]] (wild cattle) and [[stags]], and vultures swooping down on headless figures.<ref name=gard/> [[Relief]] figures are carved on walls, such as of lionesses facing one another.

Heads of animals, especially of cattle, were mounted on walls. A painting of the village, with the twin mountain peaks of [[Mount Hasan|Hasan Dağ]] in the background,<ref>{{cite web 
|url= http://dbcfaa79b34c8f5dfffa-7d3a62c63519b1618047ef2108473a39.r81.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/volcano-260x154.jpg
|title= Çatalhöyük mural
|author=  Noah Wiener <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> 
|date=  1 November 2013
|website= Bible History Daily
|publisher= Biblical Archaeology Society
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131105060007/http://dbcfaa79b34c8f5dfffa-7d3a62c63519b1618047ef2108473a39.r81.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/volcano-260x154.jpg
|archive-date= 5 November 2013
|quote= This Çatalhöyük mural is thought to represent a nearby volcanic eruption. New scientific evidence confirms a contemporaneous eruption at nearby Hasan Dağ.
}} [http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/catalhoyuk-mural-the-earliest-representation-of-a-volcanic-eruption/ Alt URL]</ref> is frequently cited as the [[History of cartography|world's oldest map]],<ref>[http://cartographic-images.net/Cartographic_Images/100_Town_Plan_from_Catal_Hyuk.html Cartographic Images] (accessed 23 February 2014)</ref> and the first [[landscape]] painting.<ref name=gard/> However, some archaeologists question this interpretation. Stephanie Meece, for example, argues that it is more likely a painting of a leopard skin instead of a volcano, and a decorative geometric design instead of a map.<ref>[http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/195777 A bird's eye view – of a leopard's spots. The Çatalhöyük 'map' and the development of cartographic representation in prehistory.] ''Anatolian Studies'' 56, 2006, pp. 1–16. Published by The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara</ref>

==Religion==
[[File:AnkaraMuseumCatal.jpg|thumb|Mural, [[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]]]
[[File:Mural from Çatalhöyük excavated by James Mellaart showing neolithic hunters attacking an aurochs (Bos primigenius)..jpg|thumb|Neolithic hunters attacking an aurochs, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]
[[File:Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük on black background.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük|Seated goddess]] flanked by two [[Felidae|felines]], leopards or lionesses]]

{{see also|History of religion}}
A feature of Çatalhöyük are its female figurines. Mellaart, the original excavator, argued that these carefully made figurines, carved and molded from [[marble]], blue and brown [[limestone]], [[schist]], calcite, [[basalt]], [[alabaster]], and clay, represented a [[female deity]]. Although a male deity existed as well, "statues of a female [[deity]] far outnumber those of the male deity, who moreover, does not appear to be represented at all after Level&nbsp;VI".<ref name=mellart181>{{cite book | first = James | last = Mellaart |year = 1967 | title = Catal Huyuk: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill]] | pages = 181}}</ref> To date, eighteen levels have been identified. These figurines were found primarily in areas Mellaart believed to be shrines. The stately goddess seated on a [[throne]] flanked by two lionesses was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply.<ref name=mellart180>Mellaart (1967), 180.</ref>

Whereas Mellaart excavated nearly two hundred buildings in four seasons, the current excavator, Ian Hodder, spent an entire season excavating one building alone.<ref name=balter127>{{cite book | first = Michael | last = Balter | title = The Goddess and the Bull | year = 2005 | publisher = Free Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-7432-4360-5 | pages = 127}}</ref> Hodder and his team, in 2004 and 2005, began to believe that the patterns suggested by Mellaart were false. They found one similar figurine, but the vast majority did not imitate the [[Mother Goddess]] style that Mellaart suggested. Instead of a Mother Goddess culture, Hodder points out that the site gives little indication of a [[matriarchy]] or [[patriarchy]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Çatalhöyük: Ancient History of the Anatolia | url = http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2005/ar05_01.html}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|There are full breasts on which the hands rest, and the stomach is extended in the central part. There is a hole in the top for the head which is missing. As one turns the figurine around one notices that the arms are very thin, and then on the back of the figurine one sees a depiction of either a skeleton or the bones of a very thin and depleted human. The ribs and vertebrae are clear, as are the [[scapula]]e and the main pelvic bones. The figurine can be interpreted in a number of ways – as a woman turning into an ancestor, as a woman associated with death, or as death and life conjoined. It is possible that the lines around the body represent wrapping rather than ribs. Whatever the specific interpretation, this is a unique piece that may force us to change our views of the nature of Çatalhöyük society and imagery. Perhaps the importance of female imagery was related to some special role of the female in relation to death as much as to the roles of mother and nurturer.<ref name=hodder>{{cite web | last = Hodder | first = Ian | title = New finds and new interpretations at Çatalhöyük | work = Çatalhöyük 2005 Archive Report | publisher = Catalhoyuk Research Project, Institute of Archaeology | year = 2005 | url = http://www.catalhoyuk.com/archive_reports/2005/ar05_01.html}}</ref>}}

In an article in the ''[[Turkish Daily News]]'', Hodder is reported as denying that Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society and quoted as saying "When we look at what they eat and drink and at their social statues, we see that men and women had the same social status. There was a balance of power. Another example is the skulls found. If one's social status was of high importance in Çatalhöyük, the body and head were separated after death. The number of female and male skulls found during the excavations is almost equal."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=93856 | title = A Journey to 9000 years ago | date = 1 January 2008| access-date = 7 August 2008 | last = Hodder | first = Ian }}</ref> In another article in the ''Hurriyet Daily News'' Hodder is reported to say "We have learned that men and women were equally approached".<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?PageID=238&NID=72411&NewsCatID=375 | title = Çatalhöyük excavations reveal gender equality in ancient settled life | date = 2 March 2015| access-date = 25 March 2015 | last = Hodder | first = Ian }}</ref>

In a report in September 2009 on the discovery of around 2000 figurines Hodder is quoted as saying:
{{blockquote|Çatalhöyük was excavated in the 1960s in a methodical way, but not using the full range of natural science techniques that are available to us today. Sir James Mellaart who excavated the site in the 1960s came up with all sorts of ideas about the way the site was organized and how it was lived in and so on ... We've now started working there since the mid 1990s and come up with very different ideas about the site. One of the most obvious examples of that is that Çatalhöyük is perhaps best known for the idea of the mother [[goddess]]. But our work more recently has tended to show that in fact there is very little evidence of a mother goddess and very little evidence of some sort of female-based matriarchy. That's just one of the many myths that the modern scientific work is undermining.<ref name="O'Brien">O'Brien, Jeremy "New techniques undermine 'mother goddess' role in the community" ''Irish Times'' September 20, 2009 [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0910/1224254196976.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113131748/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0910/1224254196976.html |date=13 November 2011 }}</ref>}}
Professor [[Lynn Meskell]] explained that while the original excavations had found only 200 figures, the new excavations had uncovered 2,000 figures, most of which depicted animals, and fewer than 5% of the figurines depicted women.<ref name="O'Brien" />

Estonian folklorist [[Uku Masing]] has suggested as early as in 1976, that Çatalhöyük was probably a hunting and gathering religion and the Mother Goddess figurine did not represent a female deity. He implied that perhaps a longer period of time was needed to develop symbols for agricultural rites.<ref name=Masing>{{cite book | first = Uku | last = Masing | year = 2011 | title = Aarded Tellistes | publisher = Ilmamaa | location = Tartu, Estonia | isbn = 978-9985-77-351-2 | pages = 209–227}}</ref> His theory was developed in the paper "Some remarks on the mythology of the people of Catal Hüyük".<ref>Oriental Studies 3. Acta et Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis 392 / Tartu Riikliku Ülikooli Toimetised 392. Tartu 1976, 75–92.</ref>

== Economy ==
Çatalhöyük has strong evidence of an [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] society, as no houses with distinctive features (belonging to [[Monarch|royalty]] or [[priest|religious hierarchy]] for example) have been found so far. The most recent investigations also reveal little [[social stratification|social distinction]] based on gender, with men and women receiving equivalent nutrition and seeming to have equal social status, as typically found in [[Paleolithic]] cultures.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society|title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present|author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1991|isbn=978-0-13-357005-2|location=New Jersey, USA}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society Pages 9–13]</ref><ref name="Gutrie">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC|title=The Nature of Paleolithic art|author=R Dale Gutrie|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-226-31126-5|location=Chicago}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC Page 420-422]</ref> Children observed domestic areas. They learned how to perform rituals and how to build or repair houses by watching the adults make statues, beads, and other objects.<ref name="Maynes" />
Çatalhöyük's spatial layout may be due to the close kin relations exhibited amongst the people. It can be seen, in the layout, that the people were "divided into two groups who lived on opposite sides of the town, separated by a gully." Furthermore, because no nearby towns were found from which marriage partners could be drawn, "this spatial separation must have marked two intermarrying kinship groups." This would help explain how a settlement so early on would become so large.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Family: A World History|last1=Maynes|first1=Mary Jo|last2=Waltner|first2=Ann|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-530476-3|location=New York City|page=8}}</ref>
[[File:Çatalhöyük_kazı_alanı_çatısı.JPG|thumb|Protective roof of the archeological site]]
In the upper levels of the site, it becomes apparent that the people of Çatalhöyük were honing skills in agriculture and the domestication of animals. Female figurines have been found within bins used for storage of cereals, such as wheat and [[barley]], and the figurines are presumed to be of a deity protecting the grain. [[Peas]] were also grown, and [[almonds]], [[pistachio]]s, and fruit were harvested from trees in the surrounding hills. [[domestic sheep|Sheep]] were domesticated and evidence suggests the beginning of cattle [[domestication]] as well. However, [[hunting]] continued to be a major source of food for the community. [[Pottery]] and [[obsidian]] tools appear to have been major industries; obsidian tools were probably both used and also traded for items such as [[Mediterranean]] sea shells and [[flint]] from [[Syria]]. Noting the lack of hierarchy and [[economic inequality]], historian and anti-capitalist author [[Murray Bookchin]] has argued that Çatalhöyük was an early example of [[anarcho-communism]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Rise of Urbanisation and Decline of Citizenship|last=Bookchin|first=Murray|pages=18–22}}</ref>

Conversely, a 2014 paper argues that the picture of Çatalhöyük is more complex and that while there seemed to have been an egalitarian distribution of cooking tools and some stone tools, unbroken [[quern-stone]]s and storage units were more unevenly distributed. Private property existed but shared tools also existed. It was also suggested that Çatalhöyük was becoming less egalitarian, with greater inter-generational wealth transmission.<ref>Wright, Katherine I. Karen. "Domestication and inequality? Households, corporate groups and food processing tools at Neolithic Çatalhöyük." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 33 (2014): 1–33.</ref>

==Museum==
In 2023 a new state-of-the-art museum has opened on the site, constructed by the Konya municipality. In October 2024 a bookshop and cafe was added to the site. Non-Turkish visitors are charged five euros per person for entry. There are numerous visitor-activated information kiosks, some of which provide information in English as well as Turkish. Full information on all aspects of the various discoveries is available in eight rooms, including an underground reconstruction of a typical dwelling used by people of 90 centuries ago.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

==See also==
*[[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]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bailey, Douglass. ''Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic.'' New York: Routledge, 2005 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-415-33151-X}}; paperback, {{ISBN|0-415-33152-8}}).
* [[Michael Balter|Balter, Michael]]. ''The Goddess and the Bull: Çatalhöyük: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization.'' New York: Free Press, 2004 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-7432-4360-9}}); Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2006 (paperback, {{ISBN|1-59874-069-5}}). A highly condensed version was published in [http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/ ''The Smithsonian Magazine''], May 2005.
* Dural, Sadrettin. "Protecting Catalhoyuk: Memoir of an Archaeological Site Guard." Contributions by Ian Hodder. Translated by Duygu Camurcuoglu Cleere. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-59874-050-9}}.
* [[Ian Hodder|Hodder, Ian]]. "Women and Men at Çatalhöyük," [http://www.sciam.com/ ''Scientific American Magazine''], January 2004 (update V15:1, 2005).
* Hodder, I. (2014). "Çatalhöyük excavations: the 2000-2008 seasons.", British Institute at Ankara, Monumenta Archaeologica 29, {{ISBN|978-1-898249-29-0}}
* Hodder, Ian. ''Twenty-Five Years of Research at Çatalhöyük'', Near Eastern Archaeology; Chicago, vol. 83, iss. 2, pp.&nbsp;72–29, June 2020
* Hodder, Ian. ''The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük''. London; New York: Thames&nbsp;& Hudson, 2006 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-500-05141-0}}). (The UK title of this work is ''Çatalhöyük: The Leopard's Tale''.)
*Hodder, Ian; Bogaard, Amy; Engel, Claudia; Pearson, Jessica; Wolfhagen, Jesse., "Spatial autocorrelation analysis and the social organisation of crop and herd management at Çatalhöyük", Anatolian Studies, London, vol. 72, pp.&nbsp;1–15, 2022
*Mallett, Marla, [http://marlamallett.com/chupdate.htm "The Goddess from Anatolia: An Updated View of the Catak Huyuk Controversy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930222048/http://marlamallett.com/chupdate.htm |date=30 September 2008 }}," in Oriental Rug Review, Vol. XIII, No. 2 (December 1992/January 1993).
* [[James Mellaart|Mellaart, James]]. ''Çatal Hüyük: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia.'' London: Thames&nbsp;& Hudson, 1967; New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1967. [https://archive.org/details/Catal-huyuk.ANeolithicTownInAnatolia/mode/2up Online at archive.org]
* ''On the Surface: Çatalhöyük 1993–95'', edited by Ian Hodder. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1996 ({{ISBN|0-9519420-3-4}}).
*[https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/3032773/RastEicher+et+al_Catal+botany_v3.pdf?sequence=4 Rast-Eicher, Antoinette, Sabine Karg, and Lise Bender Jørgensen, "The use of local fibres for textiles at Neolithic Çatalhöyük", Antiquity 95.383, pp. 1129-1144, 2021]
*{{citation |first=James Stuart |last=Taylor |year=2016 |title=Making Time For Space At Çatalhöyük: GIS as a tool for exploring intra-site spatiotemporality within complex stratigraphic sequences |publisher=University of York |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13500/ |type=PhD thesis}} {{open access}}
* Todd, Ian A. ''Çatal Hüyük in Perspective''. Menlo Park, CA: Cummings Pub. Co., 1976 ({{ISBN|0-8465-1958-5}}; {{ISBN|0-8465-1957-7}})
*[https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307067 Twiss, Katheryn C., et al., "“But some were more equal than others:” Exploring inequality at Neolithic Çatalhöyük", Plos one 19.9, e0307067, 2024]

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage}}
{{Commons}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o70A1VqrxEQ&list=PLmXaxHgt2ww8u6j2uOlnGRQTWLrk8FPkt&index=4 What we learned from 25 Years of Research at Catalhoyuk - Ian Hodder] - Oriental Institute lecture Dec 4, 2019
* [http://www.catalhoyuk.com Çatalhöyük — Excavations of a Neolithic Anatolian Höyük], Çatalhöyük excavation official website
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/catalhoyuk/ Çatalhöyük photos]
* [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/282/5393/1442 The First Cities: Why Settle Down? The Mystery of Communities], by Michael Balter, Çatalhöyük excavation official biographer
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ian-hodder-%C3%A7atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk-religion-templetons-25_us_58fe2a64e4b0f02c3870ecf0 Interview with Ian Hodder March 201 "Ian Hodder: Çatalhöyük, Religion & Templeton's 25%"]

{{Former settlements in Turkey}}
{{World Heritage Sites in Turkey}}
{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}
{{Archaeological museums in Turkey}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catalhoyuk}}
[[Category:Çatalhöyük| ]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 8th millennium BC]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 7th millennium BC]]
[[Category:1958 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Turkey]]
[[Category:Archaeological museums in Turkey]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites of prehistoric Anatolia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Konya Province]]
[[Category:Chalcolithic sites of Asia]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Turkey]]
[[Category:Megasites]]
[[Category:Museums in Konya Province]]
[[Category:Neolithic settlements]]
[[Category:Neolithic sites of Asia]]
[[Category:Tells (archaeology)]]