What+is+Catal+Huyuk?

Çatalhöyük is located on the Konya plain on the southern edge of the Anatolian Plateau at an elevation of just over 1000m above sea level; the highest point of the East mound of Çatalhöyük is 1020.3m above sea level, 16 m above the surrounding plain. Çatalhöyük lies within the village boundaries of Küçükköy, a small village of approximately 100 hundred houses located one kilometer to the north of the site. The sub-province centre of Çumra is 12km south/southwest of the site and the provincial capital of Konya is 60 kilometers away in northwestern direction. The site Çatalhöyük is made up of two mounds: Çatalhöyük East and Çatalhöyük West. The east mound is clearly visible from some distance: the west mound is much lower with gently sloping topography. Çatalhöyük east consist of 21m of Neolithic deposits dating from 7400-6200 B.C. with some later deposits consisting mainly of Byzantine burials and rubbish pits. Çatalhöyük West is 6m high and is almost exclusively Chalcolithic (6200-5200 B.C.), again with the presence of some Byzantine burials. The two mounds built up on either side of the Çarşamba Çay River which ran between the two mounds during the Neolithic period. Çatalhöyük was discovered in the 1950s by James Mellart. It was the largest known Neolithic site in the Near East at that time. Çatalhöyük East is 450m in length and 275m in width, approximately 23 acres. The site represents significant social change and development: hunting taking place alongside the domestication of plants, the invention of pottery, and coming together of 1000s of people in a permanent settlement. Furthermore the two mounds span over 2000 years and indicate a high degree of continuity though time. Excavations which restarted in 1993 and continue today have reached the bottom of the East Mound and have discovered a total of 18 levels of occupation. Sampling has been undertaken of the whole site and society was egalitarian without large-scale centralized administration. Shelters have been built over excavated portions of the site, a Visitor Centre and experimental house have been constructed, facilities have been provided, and there is a Site Management Plan.