Konya Catalhoyuk

The best known period of the residence, that is urbanization in Çatalhöyük is the 7th and 11th layers. The walls of quadruple walled houses are next to each other. There are no common walls. Each house has its own individual wall. The houses are separately planned and another house is built near the existing house in case of a need. Due to the neighboring walls of the houses, there is no streets in the city. Transportation is provided through plain roofs. No findings having the characteristics of city walls protecting and bordering the city could be found. The material used in the construction is sun - dried brick, trees and reeds. The base depths of the houses is small. There are wooden columns between the walls. The beams on these columns bear the flat ceiling. The upper cover of the ceiling is clay soil pressed on reed. The houses are single - floored and entrance is provided via a ladder from a hole opened on the roof. Each house consists of a room and a warehouse. There are quadruple owens in the rooms, steps having heights varying between 10 - 30 cm from the floor base and quadruple niches in the wallls. The walls are plastered. After painting the plaster in white, paintings in yellow, red and black tons are made. Holy rooms are bigger than other rooms. The trophes of original bull head, ram head and deer heads conserved with pressed clay are appliqued on the walls. Besides these, human and animal figures in relief form are also seen. Wall paintings in Çatalhöyük are found in the 10th layer as the earliest and in the 11th layer as the latest. The most beautiful and developed ones belong to the 7th and 5th layers. These paintings are the continuation of the paintings made by the Paleolithic man on cave walls. They are paintings made for the abundance of the hunt. Towards the late period, it is seen that house scenes become less and bird motifs and geometric patterns occur.

It is thought that the human figures without head painted on the walls as being eaten by vultures are related with the traditions of burying the dead. The bones cleaned from the flesh being eaten by the vultures are collected and wrapped to a coating made of mat and buried under the figures in the house. In the researches made under the figures, many skeletons have been found. As the gifts for the dead, tools made of bones, colored stones, cutter tools, stone axes, beads made of sea shells are put. The small sculptures obtained in Çatalhöyük excavation provide us information abut the beginning of mother goddess culture (worship) and the beliefs of that period. These small sculptures made of cooked soil and stone have sizes varying between 5 - 15 cm. they are depicted as fat women with big breasts and big hips and sometimes as giving a birth. This is because of their representing abundance and blessing. Almost all of the tools and materials obtained in Çatalhöyük are stone, cooked earth, axes, shallow plates, high relief abundance goddess motifs and the bracelets and necklaces. Black and tile red colored pots and cupls having a rough - granule dough made of cooked earth have been found. Furthermore, the mother goddess and holy animal figures are made of cooked earth. The cutter and perforator tools made of bone and spear and arrow ends made of obsidian are the most important materials used in Çatalhöyük.

No excavations have been made in Çatalhöyük until 1996; starting from this year excavations have been continued by English Archeology Institute, under the chairmanship of Ian Hodder. The excavation finds are in Konya Archeology Museum. Some of them are exhibited and the others are taken under protection in the warehouses.

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