SocietyThe Middle East

Çatalhöyük

7,401 BCE – 6,001 BCE

Eight thousand people, no streets and no ruler

In depth

Çatalhöyük is a standing challenge to the idea that large societies require hierarchy. The houses are nearly equal in size, food was evenly distributed, and the dead were buried beneath the floor of their own home. Wall paintings show hunting, vultures and a possible eruption of Hasan Dağ. The town was occupied for over a thousand years and then abandoned with no sign of violence.

For children

In Turkey stood a town where the houses sat wall to wall with no streets between. People walked on the roofs and climbed down through a hole to get inside. Several thousand lived there, but archaeologists find no palaces and no temples.

Connects to

Jericho builds a wall9,001 BCE
Farming begins9,501 BCE
The first cities3,501 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org