The construction of Çatalhöyük Information and Meeting Center comes to an end

Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay stated that,” they are working to make Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest known settlements in the world, more known all over the world, and that they are coming the end of the construction of Çatalhöyük Information and Meeting Center, which has the quality of a museum.”

Konya Metropolitan Municipality completed 90 percent in the construction of Çatalhöyük Information and Meeting Center. The center will be an important step for Konya to be recognized more in the world. Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay stated that, “We aim to increase the recognition of Çatalhöyük, which dates back nearly 10 thousand years, with our work. As you know, Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest known city settlements in the world and which has many firsts that illuminate the history of humanity, is located in Konya. We are also working to make Çatalhöyük better known all over the world. In this context, we are building a museum-like information and meeting center with an area of 4,500 square meters on a 28,500 square meter plot that will contribute greatly to the promotion of Çatalhöyük. When our Çatalhöyük Information Center is completed, it will have the title of Turkey’s largest wooden public investment.”

The hidden history of humanity; Çatalhöyük Neolithic Ancient City

Çatalhöyük Neolithic City, which witnessed important social changes and developments such as the beginning of agriculture and hunting, along with the transition to settled social life, which is an important stage in the development of humanity, is located on an area of ​​​​approximately 14 hectares in the Southern Anatolian Plateau. The taller East Mound of the Neolithic City of Çatalhöyük, which consists of two mounds, dates between to 7400 and 6200 BC and contains 18 Neolithic settlement layers. In these layers, there are murals, reliefs, sculptures and other artistic elements that symbolize social organization and the transition to settled life. The West Mound shows cultural characteristics belonging to the Chalcolithic Period, dated between 6.200 and 5.200 BC. With these features, Çatalhöyük is an important proof of the transition from villages that have existed in the same geography for more than 2000 years to urban life. The settlement in Çatalhöyük, which does not have a street, exhibits a unique feature with the adjacent houses that are entered through the roofs. Although other Neolithic sites have been found in the Middle East and Anatolia, the Neolithic City of Çatalhöyük is of extraordinary universal value for its unique combination of the size of the ruins, the density of the living community, strong artistic and cultural traditions and continuity over time.

Çatalhöyük Neolithic Ancient City is located within the borders of Çumra District of Konya and 10 km east of the district. The mound is in the form of a hill with two flats of different heights. Due to these two elevations, it has taken the title of fork. Çatalhöyük was discovered by J. Mellaart in 1958 and excavated in 1961-1963 and 1965. As a result of the research on the western slope of the high hill, 13 building levels were unearthed. The earliest settlement level (1) is dated to 5500 BC. This dating, made by style critique, has also been confirmed by the C14 method. It is a center that sheds light on the history of humanity with the first settlement, the first house architecture and the original finds of the first sacred structures.