Çatalhöyük is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Central Anatolian Turkey.

Understand

The interior of a reconstructed Çatalhöyük house

7500 B.C. to 5700 B.C, meaning "forked mound" in Turkish, is a Stone Age settlement in Turkey, about an hour by car from Konya. Because of its age, size, and good condition, it has been of great importance to archaeologists studying the transition from nomadic tribes to settlement and "civilization." Today the ruins together with reconstructed living quarters allow tourists to get some idea of what stone-age life might have been like.

History

Inhabited from 7500 B.C. to 5700 B.C by between 5,000-10,000 people (making it one of the largest settlements of its era, Çatalhöyük was later abandoned during the Copper Age.

Landscape

The site is located on two mounds, with an ancient ex-riverbed that was once a channel of the Çarşamba River running between them.

Get in

By bus

There is a daily bus from Konya, departing right at noon, which passes by Çatalhöyük and costs 5 TL. On your way back to Konya, it's easiest to hitchhike to Çumra first, which is the nearest major town, and then take a bus to Konya from there, which costs 5 TL. (Hitchhiking Çatalhöyük to Çumra is pretty easy, with most drivers passing by themselves offer a free lift even when you are not thumbing.) Alternatively, you might ask the museum guard about the schedule of bus services from the small village nearby.

Get around

The site should be small enough to walk, however due to the nature of the site (buildings are accessed from the rooftops) it may not be handicapped-accessible.

See

Excavations