{
  "author": "ChronologiaOS editorial guides",
  "date": "2026-10-09",
  "department": "Cities & Civilizations",
  "department_id": "CITIES",
  "epistemic_label": "Source guide",
  "epistemic_status": "SOURCE_GUIDE",
  "period": "c. 7400\u20136200 BCE (Eastern mound)",
  "place": "Konya plain, central Anatolia, T\u00fcrkiye",
  "public_sources": [
    {
      "publisher": "UNESCO",
      "title": "Neolithic Site of \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck",
      "type": "Heritage reference record",
      "url": "https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405/"
    }
  ],
  "publication_state": "PUBLIC",
  "read_time": "3 min read",
  "sections": [
    {
      "body": "UNESCO lists the Neolithic Site of \u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck as two tells rising up to 20 meters above the Konya plain. Excavations of the Eastern mound revealed 18 levels of Neolithic occupation dated to about 7400 to 6200 BCE; the Western mound is mainly Chalcolithic, about 6200 to 5200 BCE.",
      "heading": "Start with the mounds",
      "source": 0
    },
    {
      "body": "UNESCO's description singles out the house clusters as an outstanding settlement type: streetless neighbourhoods of densely packed dwellings entered from the roof. The property is cited as testimony to a moment when the first agrarian settlements of central Anatolia grew over centuries from villages toward larger centres.",
      "heading": "A settlement without streets",
      "source": 0
    },
    {
      "body": "Two mounds, two periods, one name. When a site has multiple occupation phases, attach each claim to its mound and level. A wall painting from one level says nothing certain about a house from another.",
      "heading": "Try the research habit"
    },
    {
      "body": "What would make a dense settlement a 'town' rather than a large village? Decide which criteria you would need and whether the excavated evidence can supply them.",
      "heading": "A question to carry forward"
    }
  ],
  "short_title": "What did a Neolithic neighbourhood look like?",
  "slug": "catalhoyuk-a-town-without-streets",
  "summary": "Visit two mounds on the Konya plain where densely packed houses were entered from the roof, and learn to keep each claim with its mound and level.",
  "tags": [
    "\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck",
    "Neolithic",
    "Anatolia",
    "Settlement"
  ],
  "title": "\u00c7atalh\u00f6y\u00fck: a town without streets."
}