National Geographic History - 03.2019 - 04.2019

16 MARCH/APRIL 2019

IN PLAIN SITE

Çatalhöyük (above)

sits on the Konya

Plain in Turkey. Its

eastern mound

(right) was settled

about 1,500 years

before the western

one (left). Much of

the site

T

he Konya Plain stretches for hundreds

of miles across central Turkey. Almost

60 years ago, in a remote spot some

30 miles from the regional capital of

Konya, a team of archaeologists be-

gan exploring two small hills. A fork in a local

footpath and the two mounds themselves gave

the site its modern name. Fork (çatal in Turkish)

and mound (höyük) combine to form Çatalhöyük.

Today the site is regarded by UNESCO as the

most significant human settlement document-

ing early settled agricultural life.

Founded over 9,000 years ago on the bank of

a river that has since dried up, Çatalhöyük is be-

lieved to have been home to an egalitarian Stone

Age society who built distinctive homes, ar-

ranged back-to-back without doors or windows.

They went in and out through openings in the

roof. On the inside, they left wall paintings and

nigmatic figurines. These dwellings also played

important role in their funerary practices:

ENN/GETTY IMAGES

ESTIC CHORES. BONE TOOLS FOR SEWING AND WEAVING,

D AT ÇATALHÖYÜK. MUSEUM OF ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS,

RA, TURKEY

Life of a

Neolithic

Settlement

circa 7400 b.c.

People begin settling at

Çatalhöyük (in present-day

Turkey). The land is abundant

with natural resources and well

suited for agriculture.

circa 6700 b.c.

Çatalhöyük rapidly grows in

size and population. During

the 2,000 years the site is

occupied, the settlement will

expand to 34 acres and peak at

roughly 8,000 people.

circa 6500 b.c.

Over the centuries

Çatalhöyük residents

establish a community of

mud-brick homes, tightly

clustered together. A

vibrant religious and artistic

tradition develops.

circa 5900 b.c.

New settlement patterns

emerge at Çatalhöyük on a

neighboring mound to the west

and the surrounding plain. Its

egalitarian society continues to

grow and thrive.

circa 5500-

Technological chan

come to Çatalhöyük

form of decorated p

an advance associate

with the Copper Age.

circa 5100-5000b

Çatalhöyük is abandon

many centuries afterwa

the surrounding commu

use part of the site as a b

ground for their dead.

avated.

IMAGES & STORIES/ALAMY/ACI

00 b.c.

b.c.

o

a