Çatalhöyük: The Organization of a Neolithic Society

Shahina Farid (England)

Abstract

The archaeological site of Çatalhöyük (c. 7400-6000 BC) in the Konya plain of central Turkey is famous for its densely packed mudbrick houses in which people lived about 9000 years ago. The houses were entered from a hole in the roof above the oven which also acted as a chimney. There was no ground floor access into the houses, so traversing the settlement took place mostly at roof level. The dead were buried in the houses beneath the floor and under the sleeping platforms, and some houses were elaborated with wall paintings of geometric design and hunting scenes depicting human and animal figures. Reliefs were sculpted on some of the walls in the form of figures and animal heads. There were also many portable items made of bone, stone and clay fashioned into tools, utensils, beads and small animals, but the most famous for Çatalhöyük are the robust human female figures.  This article introduces the main structure and internal features of the settlement, its ecological context, economy, burial practices, wall paintings and plaster reliefs, portable sculptures and examples of important recent discoveries.