Catalhoyuk and the first villages: living together before cities

Today, we begin a journey through human history. We will start by exploring a time when people began to live in a new way, very different from their ancestors. For thousands of years, humans moved constantly, hunting animals and gathering wild plants. This way of life is called **hunter-gathering**. But around 10,000 years ago, some groups of people began to stay in one place. They learned to grow food and keep animals. This change is called the **Neolithic Revolution**. It was a slow revolution, happening over many centuries in different parts of the world. One of the most remarkable places where this new way of life flourished is a site called Çatalhöyük. It is located in what is now modern-day Turkey. We pronounce it “Cha-tal-hoo-yook.” Çatalhöyük was not a city as we understand cities today, but it was much larger and more complex than any village that came before it. It existed for nearly 2,000 years, from approximately 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE. To give you a sense of this vastness, 2,000 years before today, the Roman Empire was at its peak. So, Çatalhöyük lasted for a very, very long time. Archaeologists – scientists who study human history by digging up and examining the remains of past cultures – first began to excavate Çatalhöyük in the early 1960s. The first person to lead these digs was James Mellaart. His discoveries amazed the world. Since 1993, a team led by another archaeologist, Ian Hodder, has continued to uncover its secrets, using very careful and detailed methods. What did they find at Çatalhöyük? Imagine a place where houses are built so close together that they share walls. There are no streets, no pathways between buildings. The houses are made of mudbrick, a common building material in that region, made from mixing mud and straw and letting it dry in the sun. To move around, people walked across the roofs of their houses. They entered their homes through openings in the ceiling, using ladders. This is one of the most distinctive features of Çatalhöyük – a continuous, flowing rooftop landscape where much of daily life happened. The roofs were not just for walking; they were communal spaces, places where people gathered, worked, and socialized. At its peak, Çatalhöyük was home to perhaps 5,000 to 8,000 people. This was an enormous number for a settlement at that time. To support so many people in one place, the inhabitants relied on **agriculture**. This is the practice of farming: growing crops and raising animals. They cultivated important crops like wheat, barley, and peas. These were the staple foods that provided most of their calories. They also raised sheep and goats, which provided meat, milk, and wool. While agriculture was their main way of getting food, they also continued to hunt wild animals, adding variety to their diet. The shift to agriculture was a crucial reason why places like Çatalhöyük developed. When people learned to grow their own food, they no longer needed to constantly move to find it. They could stay in one place, invest their effort in building permanent homes, and accumulate possessions. This **sedentary** lifestyle – meaning staying in one place – was a huge change. Why did they build their homes so densely, without streets? This is a question archaeologists still debate. One possible reason is **defense**. Living in a large, tightly packed settlement might have offered protection against wild animals or other groups of people. Another reason could be efficiency: using space and building materials carefully. It also suggests a very strong sense of **social cohesion** – a close connection between people in the community. Perhaps their shared cultural practices and beliefs encouraged this kind of close living. We do not know for sure, but these are some of the ideas proposed by historians. Life in Çatalhöyük was centered around the home. Each house typically had one main room, with raised platforms used for sleeping and sitting. There were storage areas and hearths – places for fires – for cooking and warmth. What is particularly interesting is how people dealt with their dead. When someone died, they were often buried beneath the floors of their own houses, sometimes with a few personal items, known as **grave goods**. This practice suggests a very strong connection between the living and the dead, with ancestors remaining physically present within the family home. The people of Çatalhöyük also left behind rich evidence of their artistic and symbolic lives. The walls inside many houses were decorated with paintings. These **murals** show human figures, often without heads, as well as wild animals like bulls, deer, and leopards. Some paintings seem to depict hunting scenes, others geometric patterns. There are also plaster reliefs – designs raised from the wall surface – including large bull heads. Archaeologists have found small sculptures, or **figurines**, often depicting human figures, sometimes clearly female. These artistic expressions are primary sources – direct evidence from the past – that help us understand their beliefs. However, interpreting these symbols is difficult. Early archaeologists, like James Mellaart, suggested there was a powerful "Mother Goddess" cult at Çatalhöyük, based on the female figurines. But modern scholars, like Ian Hodder, argue that this might be too simple. They believe the art reflects a more complex set of beliefs, probably related to fertility, ancestors, the wild world outside their village, and the domestic world within their homes. The exact meaning of these symbols is still debated, reminding us that the past is not always clear. The structure of society in Çatalhöyük is another area of active discussion. Were some people more powerful or wealthier than others? In many later societies, archaeologists find clear evidence of social hierarchy – a system where some people have more power, status, or wealth than others. This might be seen in much larger houses, richer burials, or specialized items found only in certain homes. At Çatalhöyük, the houses are remarkably similar in size and design. The burials, while varied in grave goods, do not show extreme differences that would suggest a ruling class or very wealthy families. This has led many to believe that Çatalhöyük was a relatively **egalitarian** society – meaning a society where people were largely equal in status and wealth. However, more recent detailed studies suggest there might have been subtle differences in the resources or status of different households. These differences were not as strong as in later cities, but they were perhaps present. This debate shows how archaeological interpretation can change as new methods and ideas emerge. The settled life at Çatalhöyük led to other important developments. Living together in such large numbers created new challenges. How did they deal with waste? How did they prevent disease from spreading? These are questions archaeologists consider when studying the environmental remains – things like animal bones, plant seeds, and soil samples. These remains tell us about their diet, the local environment, and even the climate of the time. The growth of Çatalhöyük also encouraged **craft specialization**. This means that some people could spend their time doing specific skilled tasks, rather than everyone doing everything. We see evidence of skilled pottery making, the creation of tools from **obsidian** – a sharp volcanic glass often used for cutting – and even evidence of early textiles, like woven baskets and possibly cloth. This suggests a more complex economy than simple hunter-gatherer societies. The long existence of Çatalhöhöyük, nearly 2,000 years, eventually came to an end around 5700 BCE. The site was abandoned. Why did people leave? This is another mystery. There is no evidence of a sudden disaster like a huge fire or an invasion. Historians suggest several possibilities: the local environment might have changed, perhaps becoming too dry for their crops. Or maybe their farming practices eventually depleted the soil, making it less fertile. It could also have been social stress within the community, or perhaps disease outbreaks due to the dense living conditions. Another idea is that their way of life simply changed again, with people deciding to move to smaller, more spread-out settlements. We know that human societies are constantly adapting and evolving, and the abandonment of Çatalhöyük marks another phase in this long history. Çatalhöyük was not a unique site. Other early villages emerged in different parts of the world as people adopted agriculture. But Çatalhöyük is exceptionally well-preserved and has been studied with great detail, offering a window into a truly transformative period in human history. It shows us that even before the development of true cities, people were capable of organizing themselves into large, complex communities, developing rich symbolic cultures, and facing both the benefits and challenges of living together in unprecedented numbers. It was a step on the path from small nomadic bands to the vast urban centers we know today. Next, we will explore another profound consequence of this shift to settled life and agriculture: how the ability to produce more food than was immediately needed – a **surplus** – led to new ideas about property and laid the very deep roots of inequality in human societies.