8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The colored skeletons of Çatalhöyük provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago

New research provides new insights into how the inhabitants of the “oldest city in the world” in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried their dead.

Their bones were partially painted, excavated several times, and reburied. The findings provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago.

The research was done by an international team with the participation of the University of Bern and is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Çatalhöyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey) is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, with an occupation that dates back to 9000 years ago. This Neolithic settlement, known as the world’s oldest city, covers an area of 13 ha and features densely aggregated mudbrick buildings. The houses of Çatalhöyük present the archaeological traces of ritual activities including intramural burials with some skeletons bearing traces of colorants, and wall paintings.

Detail of the cinnabar stripe on the cranium of the male individual. Photo: Marco Milella
Detail of the cinnabar stripe on the cranium of the male individual. Photo: Marco Milella

The association between the use of colorants and symbolic activities is documented among many past and present human societies. In the Near East, the use of pigments in architectural and funerary contexts becomes especially frequent starting from the second half of the 9th and the 8th millennium BC. Near Eastern archaeological sites dating back to the Neolithic have returned a large body of evidence of complex, often mysterious, symbolic activities. These include secondary funerary treatments, retrieval and circulation of skeletal parts, such as skulls, and the use of pigments in both architectural spaces and funerary contexts.

The first analysis of the pigments used in funerary and architectural contexts from this essential Neolithic site. According to the senior author of the study Marco Milella (Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern): “These results reveal exciting insights about the association between the use of colorants, funerary rituals and living spaces in this fascinating society”.

Geometric wall painting in the building. Photo: Jason Quinlan/Çatalhöyük Research Project
Geometric wall painting in the building. Photo: Jason Quinlan/Çatalhöyük Research Project

A time travel into a world of colors, houses, and dead

Marco Milella was part of the anthropological team who excavated and studied the human remains from Çatalhöyük. His work involves trying to make ancient and modern skeletons “speak”. Establishing the age and sex, investigating violent injuries or special treatment of the corpse, and solving skeletal puzzles are routine activities at the Department of Physical Anthropology.

The study shows that red ochre was most commonly used at Çatalhöyük, present on some adults of both sexes and children, and that cinnabar and blue/green were associated with males and females, respectively. Intriguingly, the number of burials in a building appears associated with the number of subsequent layers of architectural paintings. This suggests a contextual association between funerary deposition and application of colorants in the domestic space. “This means: when they buried someone, they also painted on the walls of the house”, Milella says. Furthermore, at Çatalhöyük, some individuals “stayed” in the community: their skeletal elements were retrieved and circulated for some time, before they were buried again. This second burial of skeletal elements was also accompanied by wall paintings.

Hand Print on the wall. Photo: Jason Quinlan/Çatalhöyük Research Project
Hand Print on the wall. Photo: Jason Quinlan/Çatalhöyük Research Project

Neolithic mysteries

Only a selection of individuals was buried with colorants, and only a part of the individuals remained in the community with their circulating bones. According to Marco Milella, “the criteria guiding the selection of these individuals escape our understanding for now, which makes these findings even more interesting. Our study shows that this selection was not related to age or sex”. What is clear, however, is that visual expression, ritual performance, and symbolic associations were elements of shared long-term socio-cultural practices in this Neolithic society.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07284-3

University of Bern

Related Articles

Bronze Age metal hoard discovered in the Swiss Alps at Roman battle site

29 June 2023

29 June 2023

Archaeologists excavating the Switzerland Oberhalbstein valley have discovered a metal hoard containing more than 80 bronze artifacts dating from 1200...

9,200-year-old Noongar habitation discovered at Augusta archaeological dig site

28 July 2021

28 July 2021

An archaeological dig in Augusta, in West Australia‘s South West, has uncovered evidence of Noongar habitation dating back an estimated...

A 2,000-year-old Street from the Roman Period has been Discovered in Southeastern Turkey

19 April 2021

19 April 2021

A 2,000-year-old street from the Roman period has been discovered in southeastern Turkey. Excavation to unearth historical street in the...

1,300-year-old shipwreck found in southwest France

19 June 2022

19 June 2022

Archeologists in France have discovered the wreck of a ship that navigated the Garonne river in southwestern France in the...

The latest excavations in the ancient city of Dülük will shed light on the history of different religions

11 October 2021

11 October 2021

It is thought that the ancient city of Dülük, one of the 25 oldest settlements in the world, will shed...

Neanderthals caused ecosystems to change 125,000 years ago

16 December 2021

16 December 2021

Researchers say Neanderthals changed the ecosystem by turning forests into grasslands 125,000 years ago. Around 125,000 years ago, these close...

The first and largest astronomical observatory of the 6th century BC discovered in Egypt’s Kafr El-Sheikh

24 August 2024

24 August 2024

Archaeologists in Egypt unveiled the first and largest astronomical observatory from the 6th century BCE in the Buto Temple at...

Researchers sequenced the DNA 1,600-year-old sheep mummy from an ancient Iranian salt mine, Chehrabad

16 July 2021

16 July 2021

A multinational team of geneticists and archaeologists sequenced the DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy discovered from Chehrabad, a salt...

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s Aqueduct, one of the Largest Hydraulic Works of the 2nd century AD, and Extremely Rare Greek Coins

11 January 2024

11 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s aqueduct, one of the largest hydraulic works of the 2nd century AD, and a...

After 1,300 years, water to again flow from monumental fountain in the City of Gladiators in Turkey

30 December 2022

30 December 2022

The approximately 2,000-year-old monumental fountain in the ancient city of Kibyra in Golhisar, Burdur in southwestern Turkey will start flowing...

KIŠIB: A Digital Archive From 80,000 Mesopotamian Seals is Being Created

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

Over the next 16 years, a research team from the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at the Free University of...

Grave Goods Show Gendered Roles for Neolithic Age

16 April 2021

16 April 2021

Grave goods, such as stone tools, have revealed that Neolithic farmers had different work-related activities for men and women. Researchers...

A princely tomb discovered in the infrastructure project of the A7 Ploieşti-Buzău highway in Romania

20 December 2022

20 December 2022

An impressive archaeological discovery took place on the Ploiești-Buzău section of the Moldova Highway. The excavations uncovered a princely tomb,...

Earliest evidence for intestinal parasites in the UK came from Stonehenge

20 May 2022

20 May 2022

Researchers think they have discovered the earliest evidence for intestinal parasites in the UK. Ancient poop found at the site...

Extraordinary discovery for the Western Baltic Sea region: a 400-year-old shipwreck Found at Bottom of German River

3 August 2022

3 August 2022

During a routine measurement at Trave, near Lübeck, in the northern part of Germany,  Kiel-Holtenau Waterways and Shipping Authority (Wasserstraßen-...