Ancient City of Çatalhöyük

Çatalhöyük in Konya Province is one of the largest Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements, inhabited from the seventh to the sixth millennium BC. Two mounds rise above the plain, formed from successive layers of mud-brick houses entered through their roofs. Narrow spaces between the houses served as refuse areas, while the interiors contained shrines with animal paintings and Mother Goddess figurines. Residents cultivated grains and legumes, gathered nuts, and traded obsidian, making Çatalhöyük an important regional commercial centre.

Full-scale excavations at Çatalhöyük began in 1958 under the British archaeologist James Mellaart. In 2025, an international team analysed the genomes of 131 people who lived here between 7100 and 5950 BC, examining kinship within and between houses; the results were published in Science.