Catalhoyuk
Discover Catalhoyuk — the massive Neolithic settlement in Turkey where 8,000 people lived without streets, entered homes through rooftops, and created stunning art.
Catalhoyuk (c. 7500–5700 BCE) in central Turkey is one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites on Earth. At its peak, an estimated 3,000 to 8,000 people lived in a dense honeycomb of mudbrick houses — with no streets, no public buildings, and no apparent social hierarchy. Residents entered their homes through holes in the roof, walking across their neighbors' rooftops to get around.
The site challenges conventional narratives about early civilization. There are no palaces, no temples, no obvious leaders. Yet the community sustained itself for nearly two thousand years, producing remarkable wall paintings, sculpted figurines (including the famous "seated goddess"), and elaborate burial practices — the dead were interred beneath the floors of the houses where the living slept.
Catalhoyuk suggests that early settled communities were far more diverse in their social organization than previously assumed. Not every path to complex society ran through hierarchy and centralized authority. For the people of Catalhoyuk, dense communal living, shared ritual practices, and a deep connection to ancestors and the natural world created a stable, creative society that endured for millennia.