Çatalhöyük Neolithic City - Konya
Çatalhöyük Neolithic City is located 52 kilometers southeast of Konya, approximately 136 kilometers from Hasandağı, and 11 kilometers north of Çumra District. It is located in Konya Plain.
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 longer East Mound of Çatalhöyük Neolithic City, which consists of two mounds, consists of 18 Neolithic settlement layers dating between 7400 and 6200 BC. In these layers, there are wall paintings, reliefs, sculptures and other artistic elements that symbolize social organization and the transition to settled life. The West Mound, on the other hand, shows cultural features from 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 can be entered through the roofs. Although other Neolithic sites have been found in the Middle East and Anatolia, Çatalhöyük Neolithic City is of extraordinary universal value with its unique combination of the size of the ruins, the density of the living community, strong artistic and cultural traditions, and continuity over time. As a result of these features, it was proposed to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009. Çatalhöyük Neolithic City, which sheds light on the history of humanity, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012.