This 9,000-Year-Old Turkish City Might Be Older Than The Pyramids

Some of the most significant archeological sites are often lost on to the general knowledge. Çatalhöyük may be little known but is one of the more significant sites of the truly ancient world. Turkey has some of the most significant and ancient archeological sites in the world - including Göbekli Tepe that makes the Great Pyramids look young.

Çatalhöyük was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city in what is today Turkey. It was inhabited from around 7500 BC to around 6400 BC and flourished around 7000 BC.

About Çatalhöyük And Its Age

Çatalhöyük is located close to the modern city of Konya (Konya is perhaps also the best place to see the iconic whirling dervishes in Turkey). One can easily reach the site by car from Konya.

Listed: As A UNESCO World Heritage Site

These prehistoric settlements were abandoned before the onset of the Bronze Age. It is likely that the alluvial clay on which they were built would have been favorable for early agriculture enabling them to flourish.

Age Of Notable Sites:

Göbekli Tepe: 9,500 to 8,000 BC
Çatalhöyük: 7,500 BC to 6,400 BC
Stonehendge: 3000 BC to 2000 BC
Pyramids of Giza: 2,550 to 2,490 BC

One of the most remarkable things about Çatalhöyük is that it seems to have been made up of only domestic buildings. There are no obvious public buildings (although some of the larger buildings have ornate murals and the purpose of the rooms is still not known).

While the population of the settlement would have varied significantly over time, it is estimated that the population could have been as much as 10,000 and averaged 5,000 to 7,000.

Population: Likely Averaged 5,000 to 7,000
Layers: There are Around 15 Successive Layers of Buildings

Çatalhöyük was once a densely packed and thriving community. But all that is visible today on the surface is two mounds. The smaller one to the west of the site is more recent while the larger one is more ancient.

The civilization that once lived here was one of the most complicated societies of its era and work is ongoing to piece back together what life must have been like.

According to Dr. Senta German on Smart History,

"Çatalhöyük had no streets or foot paths; the houses were built right up against each other and the people who lived in them traveled over the town’s rooftops and entered their homes through holes in the roofs, climbing down a ladder."

Çatalhöyük cuts across history laying at the transition from exclusively hunting and gathering way of life to one increasingly based on farming with plant and animal domestication. It is a site that tells a fascinating story of the transition from nomad to settler.

Excavations of Çatalhöyük

The excavations revealed some 18 successive layers of buildings that show the site's various eras of history. The bottom (and oldest layer of buildings is dated to as early as 7100 BC while the top later is from around 5600 BC.

The site was first excavated in 1958 by James Mellaart and the works that followed revealed just how the part of Turkey was important and a center for advanced culture in the Neolithic period.

First Excavated: In 1958
Ongoing: Excavations Are On-Going As At the Time of Writing

As at the time of writing, there is ongoing excavation being directed by Ali Umut Türkcan from Anadolu University. Another project under the direction of Ian Hodder ended a few years ago in 2018, but as of an update on their website dated November 2021 the publications of the findings are still in preparation.

So watch this space, there is likely to be much more that will come to light in the next few years.

One can watch an educational 50-minute video of the site on the Çatalhöyük website. The video narrates the past and present stories of Çatalhöyük and is produced by Rossella Biscotti who has spent several months on the site documenting the projects going on there.

Visiting Çatalhöyük

According to the Çatalhöyük website, the team working on the Çatalhöyük Research Project are always happy to receive visitors. While the site is open year-round it is best to visit during the excavation season as that is when the site is the most active.

Open: 9.00 am to 5.00 pm Daily

At the site, there is a small on-site Visitor Center that features exhibitions and replica artifacts that have been designed by the project's visualization team.

Visitors are shown around by a dedicated tour guide or a site guard who will also take one to both the North and South excavation areas and the replica Çatalhöyük house.