{"id":655,"date":"2022-06-15T08:22:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T08:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/interesting-discoveries-at-catalhoyuk-the-worlds-oldest-settlement\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:49:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:49:50","slug":"interesting-discoveries-at-catalhoyuk-the-worlds-oldest-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/interesting-discoveries-at-catalhoyuk-the-worlds-oldest-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Interesting Discoveries at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck, the World&#8217;s Oldest Settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck Neolithic City;  It is located in \u00c7umra district of Konya province in Turkey.  It is one of the largest neolithic settlements in the world ever discovered.  It is one of the settlements in the Neolithic period, when people transitioned from hunting, gathering and nomadic lifestyle to settled life and agricultural community.  It is built on the accumulation cone of the river known as \u00c7ar\u015famba Stream.  The city was added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2012.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck was first discovered by James Mellaart in 1958.  The city, which arouses admiration with its extraordinary art, dates back to BC.  It is dated to between 7400 and 6200 BC.  It is of international importance in understanding the foundations of civilization and agriculture.  It is believed that the city, which gives information about the Neolithic period settlement style and city plan, reflects the ideals of equality.  Researches carried out in this settlement, which is thought to have 8,000 people, have yielded interesting results.  It has been revealed that people live in the same houses and are buried together with people who are not biological relatives, and symbolism and art have developed a lot.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2983\" width=\"841\" height=\"475\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk2.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2983\" width=\"841\" height=\"475\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-catalhoyuk-te-yapilan-calismalar\">Studies at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck<\/h3>\n<p>\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck, one of the first places to settle outside of Mesopotamia and the Middle East, has a history of 9 thousand years.  After it was first discovered in 1958, the first excavations were carried out during 4 seasons between 1961 and 1965.  Thousands of researchers from 22 different countries participated in the ongoing excavations after the discovery of \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck.  Research has revealed for the first time that settled life exists in a place outside the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Neolithic City;  It consists of two mounds, the East Mound of the Neolithic period, which is longer and consists of 18 layers, and the West Mound, which has cultural characteristics from the Chalcolithic period.  Each layer unearthed reveals features belonging to a different period.  The best known period of settlement, namely urbanism, is the 7th and 11th layers.  The earliest period of wall paintings was found in the 10th layer, and the latest in the 11th layer.  The most beautiful and advanced ones are in the 7th and 5th layers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2984\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk9-1024x683.webp\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk9-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2984\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>The Extraordinary Architecture of \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck<\/h3>\n<p>One of the most striking aspects of \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck is its architecture.  The houses, which are stretched from the roof, have no streets and are built adjacent to each other, exhibit a unique settlement feature.  The places where people spend time and go out are the roofs of the houses.  When the life span of a family living in a house is over, the house is filled with soil and a new house is built on it.  With the construction of new houses, \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck, which has a height of 21 meters today, was formed.  It was revealed that there were 18 building levels built on top of each other in the mound.<\/p>\n<p>The materials used in the construction of the buildings are adobe, wood and reed.  Compressed clay soil was placed on the reeds, which are the top cover of the ceilings of the houses.  In order to enter the single-storey houses, a ladder was used through the hole opened in the roof.  These holes also allowed the smoke of the fire burned to warm up.  Each house consists of a warehouse and a room.  The walls of the rooms were plastered and white paint was used on the plaster.  Later, paintings were made on the walls with paints in red and black tones.  Stamps in the form of terracotta stamps have been found, showing that the concept of property first emerged at that time.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2985\" width=\"839\" height=\"581\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk12.webp\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk12.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2985\" width=\"839\" height=\"581\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck Murals<\/h3>\n<p>There are various picture boards on the walls of the houses.  There are various depictions such as geometric patterns, rug patterns, nested circles, hunting scenes, dance scenes, stars, vultures, leopards, birds, deer.  Some of the paintings on the walls reveal that it was the first settlement to include a city plan.<\/p>\n<p>Almost all the houses in \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck have wall paintings inside.  In this regard, it has a very rich history in terms of symbolism and works of art.  All the pictures on the walls and the objects in the houses are very well preserved.  Scientists think that the paintings on the walls were made with the intention of communicating with the dead or protecting them.  It is one of the most populated cities where people live together without any problems.  No fortifications or wall structures were encountered around the city.  For this reason, it is thought that the people living here lead a peaceful life without war.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"997\" height=\"432\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2986\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk13.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"997\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk13.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2986\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>Burying the Dead at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck<\/h3>\n<p>They buried their dead under a platform at the base of the houses they lived in.  Next to the dead, which were thoroughly shrunk and buried, there are items that are thought to constitute the belief in the other world.  The items found next to the dead are usually in the form of tools made of bones, colored stones, beads made of seashells.<\/p>\n<p>Among the murals are headless human figures being torn apart by vultures.  These are thought to be related to the burial customs of that period.  After the meat parts of the dead were cleaned by the vultures, their bones were collected and buried under the figures inside the house.  This aspect <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/zerdustlerin-oluleri-biraktiklari-urkutucu-sessizlik-kuleleri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Zoroastrian burial ritual<\/a><\/strong>  very similar.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2987\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk11.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk11.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2987\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>Other Discoveries Made at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck<\/h3>\n<p>Bone analyzes of the skeletons found at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck revealed that men and women ate equally, had equal workloads and lived similar lives.  Therefore, it has been seen that men and women have the same social status in society.  It has been determined that people living in the same house and having a family are not biologically the same as their parents.  It is thought that people live together with other people other than their biological parents.<\/p>\n<p>There are reliefs thought to represent beliefs such as bull heads and horns inside the houses.  There are many female figures made of terracotta in the houses.  These female figurines are generally depicted as a woman giving birth, a young-old woman and a fat woman.  It is known that these figures are seen as the mother goddess by the society.  It is thought that obesity and fertility mean abundance.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2988\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk14.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk14.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2988\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>One of the pictures on the wall is a drawing of a volcanic eruption.  Based on this picture, it was thought that there was a volcanic eruption on Hasan Mountain, near \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck, and the subject was investigated.  When the samples taken from the mountain were examined, it was determined that there was an explosion about 7000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>More than 6,000 chemical compounds from 150 different excavation sites at \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck have been studied.  B.C.  It has been determined that wax was used in pottery dated to 7000 BC.  This determination is seen as evidence that farmers used bee products in the Neolithic period.  It is not known exactly how the settlement and life began in \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2989\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk10-1024x682.jpeg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk10-1024x682.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2989\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2990\" width=\"840\" height=\"605\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2990\" width=\"840\" height=\"605\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2991\" width=\"841\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk9.jpg\" data-lazy- title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/catalhoyuk9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2991\" width=\"841\" height=\"526\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p><h5>Share<\/h5>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck Neolithic City; It is located in \u00c7umra district of Konya province in Turkey. It is one of the largest neolithic settlements in the world ever discovered. It is one of the settlements in the Neolithic period, when people transitioned from hunting, gathering and nomadic lifestyle to settled life and agricultural community. It is built &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}