Catalhoyuk

Anyone who knows me also knows my gaps in historical knowledge. For me, a visit to a normal museum has to start with the basics: what is it all about? What time period are we in? What will I learn?

When visiting the Neolithic settlement of Catalhöyük, my lack of historical knowledge does not limit my ability to learn much this time.
Overarching geopolitical contexts simply don't play a role here and even if I were asked for a date, it wouldn't matter if my estimate was 1000 or 2000 years off. :D

What amazes me is the timeline of human civilisations shown at the beginning of the museum. All the great empires are represented here - you read names like Sumerians, Hittites, (they were once mentioned in the Bible, weren't they?), the Egyptian pharaohs, the Han dynasty, the Mayans, the Merkel era ... but they are all far off in the ‘near’ past.
In the photo you can see the orange ray that describes the civilisation that Catalhöyük built. The Sumerians follow a few thousand years later and then all the names of the others far behind. :o

At that time, people began to settle down and combined the familiar methods of gathering and hunting with sedentary eating methods. Animals were domesticated and crops were cultivated.
At the height of the settlement, several thousand people lived here. Remarkable, if one remembers that the total estimated world population at this time is around 5-10 million people.

The town was made up of many rectangular houses and had no streets. People moved from one roof to another and entered the houses via roof hatches. The life of the settlement probably also took place on the roofs.
(I think this could be an inspiration for modern urban planning - we've already lost the streets to cars, so at least we could open up the roofs to pedestrians ;) )

Inside, there were lying areas, a fireplace and the first household items - people decorated their homes and painted the white walls with symbols and pictures. The houses were reused several times and stood for an estimated 400 years - in between, people may have moved and then taken the remains of the deceased buried in the ground with them - an unusual custom from today's perspective, but people wanted to be particularly close to their ancestors back then.

Back then, people must have really fought against superhuman monsters, because the murals always had a scale on them. ‘Animals on the wall are bigger than they appear!’ :O

Inspired by the millennia-old tradition of sleeping in solid walls, I also find four suitable walls to set up my bed in tonight.Read more