23 September 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Multiple Burials found at Çatalhöyük

Multiple burials were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the house on the eastern mound of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük.

Çatalhöyük, one of the first urbanization models in Anatolia in Konya’s Çumra district, continues to give new clues about the way of life of people 9,000 years ago.

Çatalhöyük is also one of Turkey’s ancient sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Çatalhöyük Neolithic City Excavation Head Anadolu University Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. Ali Umut Türkcan said that during the excavations in the eastern area, a structure larger than the Çatalhöyük structures, standing alone and containing cells, carries different phenomenon that excites them.

Photo: AA

There are more than 700 tombs from the Neolithic period

Çatalhöyük excavations have been carried out for about 3 years by a Polish team under the supervision of Marek Marciniak. Türkcan spoke about the structure as follows:

“This building is bigger than the Çatalhöyük structures we know. It stands alone and has cells inside. In fact, within these cells, we found 5 graves on one of the floors and multiple graves on the other. To date, we have identified various Neolithic tombs belonging to 18 individuals. For this reason, it is a rare phenomenon for us that this big house and tombs are on such platforms and inside the cells.”

Emphasizing that Çatalhöyük is a large cemetery, Türkcan said, “There was a newborn baby burial, They have buried it in the wall. We see that newborns and even babies with fetuses are also buried. There are more than 700 tombs from the Neolithic period alone. We know that 70 graves were unearthed in an excavation I participated in in the 90s, and these graves exceed the life span of a house,” he said.

Photo: AA

The second neighborhood

Ali Umut Türkcan said that the concept of “street,” one of the questions waiting to be answered in Çatalhöyük, started to come to light with the second neighborhood that was found recently.

Türkcan pointed out that there are some differences in the house in the second neighborhood compared to the previous houses, adding, “We have two multiple burials in this neighborhood. In fact, in this burial, we noticed that the claw of a predatory animal, which may belong to a bear, was placed on the grave of this individual. We will work on this burial in the future. The world’s oldest wooden pieces were found at Çatalhöyük. The wooden piece found in the same house is a large example, but we think that it is a part of the stairs that we knew before but could not found. This is the first time we’ve seen something like this in years.”

Photo: AA

Türkcan said the following about the predator claw found on the grave at home: “According to our expert, it is clear that this is a predator claw; we rarely find such things in graves. We know that marten claws were also put in the grave. If so, this is the second claw found. Obviously, the fact that it comes from the grave indicates that a different treatment was applied to the individual. But before that, we had found a bear seal. If we consider that there is a bear in some reliefs, we should think that together with the bull, the bear had a special place in Çatalhöyük society.”

Emphasizing that Çatalhöyük should be excavated more, Türkcan said, “This was the mega-settlement of its period; an urban phenomenon. I think that Çatalhöyük, which has yielded extraordinary finds this year, should be expanded within the possibilities and the excavations should continue.”

TRT HABER

Banner
Related Post

A rare Ogham inscription found on Pictish stone in Scottish Kirkyard

8 November 2022

8 November 2022

A Pictish carved stone cross slab with a rare inscription in the early medieval ogham language has been discovered in...

A 1900-year-old stele was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Parion

5 August 2021

5 August 2021

A 1,900-year-old grave stele was found during excavations in Parion, an important ancient port city, near Kemer village in the...

A burial complex dating to the Second Intermediate Period has been discovered at the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis at Luxor

12 April 2023

12 April 2023

At the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis in Luxor, a family burial complex from the Second Intermediate Period has been found....

The Bronze Sacred Sanxingdui Tree Number 3 is Being Restored

9 April 2021

9 April 2021

According to the announcement of the Sanxingdui Museum, archaeologists have begun to assemble and restore the No. 3 bronze sacred...

Remains of 14th-century Synagogue thought to be one of largest in region discovered in Poland

14 August 2023

14 August 2023

The remains of what is thought to be a sizeable 14th-century synagogue complex, including a mikvah, have been discovered during...

HS2 archaeologists discover Romanization of Iron Age village in Britain

12 January 2022

12 January 2022

Archaeologists have uncovered a vast Roman trading town on Britain’s HS2 high-speed rail route. Evidence found during a dig of...

City swallowed by sea now center of boat tours

10 September 2023

10 September 2023

The Kekova region, or Sunken City, which has remained under the sea after two major earthquakes in the sixth century...

Unlucky medieval woman underwent at least two skull surgeries in Longobard Italy

14 February 2023

14 February 2023

A detailed examination of the skull of a woman who lived at the medieval settlement of Castel Trosino in central...

Bronze age settlement found under in Swiss lake

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

For the first time, archaeologists discovered traces of a Bronze Age lakeside village beneath the surface of Lake Lucerne. The...

New study reveals Dog ancestry can be traced back to two separate wolf populations

30 June 2022

30 June 2022

An international group of geneticists and archaeologists with participation of the University of Potsdam have found that the ancestry of...

Failed Mongol fleet may actually land in Japan after 800 years

18 July 2023

18 July 2023

A  recent shipwreck was found off the coast of Japan this year and identified as part of a Mongol fleet...

Hidden past of Ani ruins in eastern Turkey to be uncovered by excavations

31 May 2021

31 May 2021

Archaeological excavations will reveal the historical mystery behind the ruins of Ani on the present-day Turkey-Armenia border. The Ani archaeological...

Battle of the Egadi Islands: Rome’s deadly weapons discovered off Sicily

3 September 2021

3 September 2021

Underwater archaeologists from the Soprintendenza del Mare Regione Siciliana, RPM Nautical Foundation, and the Society for the Documentation of Submerged...

Unusual construction material may be linked to the Tower of Babel

5 November 2021

5 November 2021

Archaeologists have recently discovered bitumen and mortar plastered onto a brick dating back to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II. This...

The Hittites Celebrated The Arrival of Spring With The Purilli Feast

23 March 2021

23 March 2021

Man is a being that lives in touch with nature. Spring is a season in which abundance gives many meanings...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *