Çatalhöyük Archaeological Site

Address: Çatalhöyük archaeological site, near the village of Çatalhöyük (Çumra district), Konya Province, Turkey

Website: https://www.catalhoyuk.com

Çatalhöyük is a large Neolithic tell in Konya Province, Turkey, notable for its dense, roof-accessed mudbrick houses and extensive wall art. The site is one of the best-known Neolithic settlements and has provided key evidence on early sedentary life, symbolic practice and communal architecture.

Excavated in the mid-20th century and again from the 1990s onwards, the site preserves domestic buildings with internal plastered walls, painted panels and built installations, as well as burials within buildings. Its settlement pattern shows closely packed houses with rooftop entrances rather than streets separating dwellings.

Çatalhöyük was occupied from the early Neolithic into the Chalcolithic period, roughly between about 7500 and 5700 BCE, and functioned as a large, permanently occupied community with complex domestic and ritual practices. Archaeological work has emphasised changing household layouts, craft production and symbolic behaviour across centuries of occupation.

The tell stands on a plain in central Anatolia near the modern towns of Çumra and Konya in south-central Turkey, within an agricultural landscape that preserves the regional setting of the Neolithic settlement.

• Early Neolithic dates: Dates to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic, commonly cited between about 7500 and 5700 BCE, and is a key site for early urbanised settlement studies.
• Major excavation history: Excavated initially in the 1960s and subject to renewed, long-term archaeological projects from the 1990s that emphasise social and spatial analysis of the settlement.

What to See#

• West Mound: The West Mound contains dense archaeological deposits of domestic buildings with evidence for painted walls, installed platforms and roof-entry house plans.
• East Mound: The East Mound contains large early occupation layers and graves and has been a primary focus of long-term stratigraphic excavation campaigns.

Çatalhöyük is accessed via the city of Konya. Reach Konya by intercity train (TCDD YHT services from Ankara/Istanbul) or bus, then hire a car or join an organised day tour from Konya to the archaeological site; the site is reached by local roads and is about an hour’s drive from Konya city. There is limited public transit directly to the mound, so most visitors use tours, taxis or private vehicles from Konya or the nearby town of Çumra.

• Plan your visit for early morning to avoid midday heat and to get the best light on the exposed archaeological levels; the site is an open tell with limited shade.
• Begin at the on-site visitor centre and follow the raised walkways over the excavations - the centre provides the context and displays that make the apparent jumble of mounds meaningful.
• Allow time to pair the site visit with the regional museum displays in Konya (which hold many finds) or published site guides; that background makes features of the settlement (housing clusters, plastered floors) much clearer than a quick stop.