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What are they excavating at Çatalhöyük?
What does Çatalhöyük mean?
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How old is the ancient city? How do you say it Çatalhöyük is a city founded 9,000 years ago, and this UNESCO World Heritage Site is well-worth visiting to see the remains of an ancient (like, REALLY ancient) city. But what makes it so incredibly special? Well, at the moment, Çatalhöyük is the first known city in the world – the first place where surrounding villages came together and formed a central location and began the sort of urban civilization that dominates the modern world. What we see at this incredible site is a large city (upwards of 10,000 people at its height) where humans came together, and we see not only the practical applications of how houses formed, but also how the roots of art, religion, and culture came to form as our species grew more accustomed to a settled, sedentary lifestyle. Equally incredible is the sheer success of the city. It existed for over 2,000 years as a city in various forms, a truly incredible feat compared with today's modern cities who've, in most cases, not lasted even half of that. So what is Çatalhöyük exactly? Let's take a closer look. The HistoryÇatalhöyük was settled primarily between 7500 BC and 5700 BC. The name is Turkish, meaning "forked hill". It's unknown exactly why this spot was chosen (or why it was eventually abandoned), but a river once flowed between the two hills that make up Çatalhöyük, with the settlement itself built on alluvial clay, making it particularly amenable to agriculture. The city appears to have been truly residential, with no known public buildings discovered to date. The population probably fluctuated between 5,000 and 7,000 people, hitting a maximum of around 10,000 possibly. Mudbrick houses are clustered very closely to one another, and neighbors likely traded with one another as well as married each other, feuded, helped and ate together, much as we do in modern societies. There were no streets or paths connecting houses, instead they were very close to each other forming a honeycomb-like maze, with holes in the ceilings or doors which could be reached by ladder to enter. One could walk along the rooftops between houses, meaning that they functioned as practical streets as well as a source of ventilation along the open roofs of the homes. The rooms of the homes are surprisingly clean, with middens of waste located away from the ruins. The society also appears to have been remarkably egalitarian, with no houses bearing the marks of a nobility. Men and women appear to have been largely equal, and both appear to have shared the tasks of ritual, artwork, farming, hunting and cooking. It's clear that as the town developed, so too did its skill in agriculture, undoubtedly with new technology and efficiency discovered over time and ingenious techniques for harvesting and storing developed. The ArtAnd as the farming techniques developed, so too did the artwork. The walls of the houses in Çatalhöyük are filled with images and scenes. Many of these designs are the same as you'll see in more modern kilims, suggesting just how far back these designs can be traced. Scenes include those of a hunt, dance, stars, leopards, birds, deer, and more. Heads of various animals, particularly cattle, were mounted on the walls. There's a painting of the village itself, which makes it essentially the world's oldest known map. Many of the animal figurines may be reflective a local religion, though it's now unclear exactly what that might have been. In particular, a sitting goddess figure, very similar to that of theMother Goddess Kybele which arose in Anatolia much later, dots many of the homes. There are shrines and various other burial grounds that indicate an intricate religion, even if the specifics have been lost to time. What you can see when you visitApproximately 14 hectares of space are open to the public, including a museum and a tourism office. The Western mound is closed though the others can be viewed. There's also a nice café for you to relax in and bask in the grandeur of ancient history. When you enter, there's a small model that allows you take in all you're about to see and get a sense for the scale of it all. There are samples of what it might have looked like and copies of the wall paintings that were discovered. As excavation work continues on into the present, sometimes various mounds may be closed to visitors. Çatalhöyük (ʧɑtɑl højyk also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the above without diacritics) was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, a province in central Turkey, dating from around 7500 B.C.E. for the lowest layers. The word çatal is Turkish for "fork," while höyük means "mound," thus the name means roughly "forked mound." It is perhaps the largest and most sophisticated Neolithic site yet uncovered, and is considered a major turning point in the development of civilization from nomadic life toward permanent communities which eventually developed farming. The settlement also contains among the finest examples of Neolithic art and religious symbolism. In July 2012, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. DescriptionÇatalhöyük is located overlooking wheat fields in the Konya Plain, southeast of the present-day city of Konya, Turkey, approximately 140 km (87 mi) from the twin-coned volcano of Hasan Dağ. The eastern settlement forms a mound which would have risen about 20 meters (65 ft) above the plain at the time of the latest Neolithic occupation. There is also a smaller settlement mound to the west and a Byzantine settlement a few hundred meters to the east. The prehistoric mound settlements were abandoned before the Bronze Age. A channel of the Çarsamba river once flowed between the two mounds, and the settlement was built on alluvial clay which may have been favorable for early agriculture. Archaeological historyFirst discovered in 1958, the Çatalhöyük site was brought to worldwide attention by British archaeologist James Mellaart's excavations between 1961 and 1965, which revealed this section of Anatolia as a center of advanced culture in the Neolithic period. The site rapidly drew international attention due to the large size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintings and other art that was uncovered inside the houses. Mellaart was banned from Turkey for involvement in the Dorak affair in which he published drawings of supposedly important Bronze Age artifacts that later went missing (Pearson and Connor 1968). The site lay idle until September 12, 1993, when investigations began under the leadership of British archaeologist Ian Hodder from the University of Cambridge. These investigations are among the most ambitious excavation projects currently in progress according to British archaeologist Colin Renfrew. In addition to extensive use of archaeological science, psychologists' and artists' interpretations of the symbolism of the wall paintings have also been employed. Cultural findingsThe complex settlement was described by Mellaart as the earliest city in the world. However, it is more properly described as a large village rather than a true town, city, or civilization. The community seems to have consisted entirely of domestic housing with open areas for dumping rubbish. Each house usually contained three rooms. There are no obvious public buildings or signs of division of labor, although some dwellings are larger than the rest and bear more elaborate wall paintings. The purpose of larger structures remains a subject of scholarly debate. HousingThe population of the eastern mound has been estimated at up to 10,000 people, but population totals likely varied over the community’s history. An average population of 5,000 to 8,000 is a reasonable estimate. The houses of Çatalhöyük, which are clustered in a honeycomb-like maze, were so tightly packed together that there were few or no streets. Access to interior spaces was across roofs—which were made of wood and reeds plastered with mud. Most were accessed by holes in the ceiling, which were reached by interior and exterior ladders. Thus, their rooftops were their streets. The ceiling openings also served as the only source of ventilation, letting in fresh air and allowing smoke from open hearths and ovens to escape. Houses had plaster interiors characterized by squared off timber ladders or steep stairs, usually placed on the south wall of the room, as were cooking hearths and ovens. Each main room served as an area for cooking and daily activities. Raised platforms built along the walls of main rooms were used for sitting, working, and sleeping. These platforms, and all interior walls, were carefully plastered to a smooth finish. Additional rooms were used as storage. All rooms were kept scrupulously clean. Archaeologists identified very little trash or rubbish within the buildings, but found that trash heaps outside the ruins contain sewage and food waste as well as significant amounts of wood ash. In good weather, many daily activities may also have taken place on the rooftops, which conceivably formed an open air 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 became built up. Up to eighteen levels of settlement have been uncovered. BurialsThe people of Çatalhöyük buried their dead within the village. Human remains have been found in pits beneath the floors, and especially beneath hearths, the platforms within the main rooms, and under the beds. The bodies were tightly bent before burial, and were often placed in baskets or wrapped in reed mats. Disjointed 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 ritual, as some were found in other areas of the community. Some skulls were plastered and painted with ocher to recreate human-like faces, a custom more characteristic of Neolithic sites in Syria and at Jericho than at closer sites. ArtThe surfaces of many houses throughout the settlement are covered on interior and exterior walls with vivid murals and figurines. A wall map of the village is currently recognized as the world's oldest map. Predominant images include groups of men in hunting scenes, and red images of the now extinct aurochs and stags, and vultures swooping down on headless people. Heads of bulls and other animals were often mounted on walls. In addition, distinctive clay figurines of women have been found in the upper levels of the site. Although no identifiable temples have been found, the graves, murals and figurines suggest that the people of Çatalhöyük had a religion that was rich in symbolism. Rooms with concentrations of these items may have been shrines or public meeting areas. LifestyleThe people of Çatalhöyük" appear to have lived relatively egalitarian lives with no apparent social classes, as no houses with distinctive features (belonging to kings or priests, for example) have been found so far. The most recent investigations also reveal little social distinction based on gender, with both men and women receiving equivalent nutrition and apparently having relatively equal social status. The residents cultivated wheat and barley, as well as lentils, peas, bitter vetch, and other legumes. They herded sheep and goats and evidence suggests the beginning of cattle domestication as well. However, hunting continued to be a major source of meat for the community. The making of pottery and the construction of obsidian tools were major industries. Obsidian tools were probably both used and traded for items such as Mediterranean sea shells and flint from Syria. ReligionA striking feature of Çatalhöyük" is its female figurines. Mellaart argued that these well-formed, 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 VI” (Mellaart 1967, 181). These carefully crafted figurines were found primarily in areas Mellaart believed to be shrines. One, however—a stately seated goddess flanked by two lions—was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply (Mellaart, 180). Heads of bulls and other animals are also much in evidence, many having been mounted on interior walls of buildings. Whereas Mellaart excavated nearly two hundred buildings in four seasons, Ian Hodder spent an entire season excavating one building alone (Balter 2005, 127). 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:
Hodder questions whether the figurines represent religious deities, but he says they are significant nonetheless. He believes that before humans could domesticate the wild plants and animals around them, they had to tame their own nature—-what he calls a psychological process—-which is expressed in their art. Hodder also believes that Catalhoyuk’s early settlers valued spirituality and artistic expression so highly that they located their village in the best place to pursue them (Balter 2005). ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External linksAll links retrieved November 3, 2020. |