18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

An 8500-year-old wooden ladder remain was discovered at Çatalhöyük

Remains of the wooden ladder were discovered for the first time in Çatalhöyük, one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements in the world.

During the excavations under the direction of archaeologist associate professor Ali Umut Türkcan, the remains of an 8500 thousand-year-old Neolithic wooden ladder were unearthed for the first time.

The ancient Çatalhöyük site – located in the Çumra district of central Turkey’s Konya – is one of the first urbanization models in Mesopotamia’s history.

Beginning some 9,500 years ago, roughly around 7,500 B.C., and continuing for nearly 2,000 years, people settled in Çatalhöyük and built hundreds of mud-brick houses, burying their dead beneath the floors and adorning the walls with paintings, livestock skulls and plaster reliefs.

Three-dimensional modeling showing the way to the house and the position of the stove under the ladder. (Modelling: Grant Cox)

Çatalhöyük is believed to have been home to an egalitarian Stone Age society that built distinctive homes, arranged back-to-back without doors or windows. They went in and out through openings in the roof. It was understood that the buildings with the entrance and exit at the top of Çatalhöyük were climbed by ladder, but no ladder has been found until today.

Associate professor Ali Umut Turkcan said “We carried out excavations in a newly opened 200 m2 area in the Neolithic East Mound, called the North Terrace, and as we shared especially in the summer, we planned to see the street phenomenon clearly and to reveal a second Neolithic Period neighborhood.

Associate Professor Ali Umut Türkcan continued his words as follows: “In the southwestern part of the building, called Space 66, adjacent to the west wall of the building, we found the remains of an oven, the superstructure of which was largely destroyed. This furnace, measuring approximately 30X60, was built with a thickness of 11-12 centimeters,”

Photo: Çatalhöyük Excavation Archive

“A large number of in situ Ezgi stones, obsidian tools, bone tools, and animal mandibles were placed around the furnace, and it is a tradition in Çatalhöyük to find such votive bones in burned and abandoned areas. As we were walking towards its base, we first came across a large wooden find. It was difficult at first to identify this processed relic, which turned out to be about 75 cm long and 30 cm wide,”

“At first, I thought it might have been one of the large oval wooden boats excavated by James Mellaart in the 1960s, but then it turned out to be the rungs of a ladder, with two equally spaced rows of broad lateral notches on it, two clear and a third with slight marks.”

On the one hand, the fact that the find was found near the furnace and the diagonal traces of the clean gypsum plaster on the wall in the area where it was found were also strong evidence that this wooden mass with steps was a ladder.

Although evidence of the usage of stairs at Çatalhöyük has been found for some time, the residue of a staircase with visible steps was discovered for the first time in a burned place.

Source: Arkeolojik Haber

Related Articles

Israeli Archaeologists discover two shipwrecks filled with treasure

22 December 2021

22 December 2021

Israeli archaeologists have been discovered ancient artifacts and treasures amid the wrecks of two ships on the seafloor off the...

Surprisingly High-Altitude Silk Road Cities Discovered in Uzbek Mountains

25 October 2024

25 October 2024

Archaeologists have discovered two lost medieval cities in the eastern mountains of Uzbekistan that were important hubs on the ancient...

Columns in Lagina Hecate Sanctuary Rise Again

19 February 2021

19 February 2021

Lagina Hecate Sanctuary is located in Yatağan district of Muğla. It is an important sacred area belonging to the Carians...

Ancient Mastaba Tomb of Royal Physician “Magician of the Goddess Selket” discovered in Sakkara

7 January 2025

7 January 2025

In the southern region of the Saqqara archaeological site, a joint French-Swiss archaeological team made an important discovery uncovering the...

Archaeologists Uncover Extensive Ancient Irrigation Network in Eridu, the World’s First City

8 March 2025

8 March 2025

Recent research by a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists and geologists has revealed that the Eridu region of southern Mesopotamia, inhabited...

Explore 1,400-year-old ruins, submerged in Eastern China – Atlantis of China

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Deep in Qiandao Lake, between China’s Five Lion Mountains, lie the mysterious ruins of two ancient cities, dating back to...

Jiroft: The Mysterious Rival of Mesopotamia and the Dawn of an Ancient Civilization

24 March 2025

24 March 2025

Recent archaeological discoveries in southeast Iran are reshaping our understanding of early civilizations, particularly the Jiroft Civilization, which thrived around...

Archaeologists in Peru discover a mummy tied with 800-year-old ropes

28 November 2021

28 November 2021

On Peru’s central coast, archaeologists discovered a mummy estimated to be at least 800 years old. The mummy’s body was...

Earliest Direct Evidence of Psychoactive Plant Use in Iron Age Arabia Identified in Tomb at Qurayyah

25 May 2025

25 May 2025

In a remarkable archaeological breakthrough, scientists have uncovered the earliest known use of the psychoactive plant Peganum harmala—commonly known as...

“Important discovery” showing that the Hittite city of Büklükale close ties with the Hurrian society

21 October 2022

21 October 2022

According to Japanese archaeologists, an ancient clay tablet discovered at the Büklükale ruins in central Turkey suggests that a little-known...

Hundreds Of Mummified Bees inside their Cocoons from the Time of the Pharaohs found in Portugal

25 August 2023

25 August 2023

Hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons have been found on the southwest coast of Portugal, in a new paleontological...

Spectacular Roman Mosaics Unearthed in Thalheim bei Wels: A Unique Discovery in Upper Austria

10 June 2025

10 June 2025

Archaeologists from the University of Salzburg uncovered three exceptionally preserved Roman mosaics during excavations A remarkable archaeological discovery has captivated...

Göbeklitepe Monolith will be Exhibited in the United Nations

15 May 2021

15 May 2021

A copy of one of the famous ruins of Göbeklitepe, known as the oldest temple in the world, will be...

Iron Age stone altar and gold-plated ceremonial sword discovered in Kazakhstan

14 August 2021

14 August 2021

A stone altar and a gold-plated ceremonial sword used in the early Iron Age were discovered during excavations along the...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Celebrates 151th Anniversary of Its Establishment

13 April 2021

13 April 2021

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the few museums in the world, celebrates the 151st anniversary of its establishment....