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WonderArchaeology fact

Çatalhöyük, a town in central Turkey lived in from about 7500 to 5600 BCE, had almost no streets: people entered their houses through holes in the roof and walked across the rooftops.

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The story behind the card

The settlement stands on the Konya Plain in south-central Anatolia and was one of the largest farming communities of its time, home to several thousand people. Its mud-brick houses were built wall to wall and entered by ladder through an opening in the roof, so the rooftops served as streets. British archaeologist James Mellaart first excavated it in 1961–65, and Ian Hodder led a long new project from 1993 to 2018. People buried their dead in pits beneath the floors of their own houses, often under platforms and hearths, and some skulls were plastered and painted with red ochre to recreate faces. Walls carried paintings and bulls' horns set in plaster. UNESCO listed the site as a World Heritage Site in 2012.

Türkçe oku
Konya yakınlarındaki Çatalhöyük, MÖ 7500 ile 5600 arasında insanların yaşadığı bir yerleşimdi ve neredeyse hiç sokağı yoktu: İnsanlar evlerine çatıdaki deliklerden girer, damların üzerinde dolaşırdı.

Yerleşim, Orta Anadolu'nun güneyinde Konya Ovası'ndadır ve zamanının en büyük çiftçi topluluklarından birine, birkaç bin kişiye ev sahipliği yapmıştır. Kerpiç evler duvar duvara bitişik yapılmıştı; içeri çatıdaki bir açıklıktan merdivenle inilirdi, yani damlar sokak işlevi görürdü. İngiliz arkeolog James Mellaart ilk kazıları 1961-65 arasında yaptı; Ian Hodder da 1993'ten 2018'e kadar süren yeni ve uzun bir kazı projesini yönetti. İnsanlar ölülerini kendi evlerinin tabanı altına, çoğu zaman sekilerin ve ocakların altına açtıkları çukurlara gömerdi; bazı kafataslarını ise sıvayıp kırmızı aşı boyasıyla boyayarak yüz görünümü verirlerdi. Duvarlarda resimler ve sıvaya gömülmüş boğa boynuzları bulunurdu. UNESCO alanı 2012'de Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne aldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Çatalhöyük
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