Çatalhöyük
One of the largest Neolithic towns known, lived in from about 7100 BC: houses packed wall to wall and entered through the roof, plastered and painted inside. World Heritage since 2012.
Plan your visit
For a first visit at an easy pace.
Opening hours and prices change: see muze.gov.tr (opens in a new tab).
Times are our estimates. Distances are straight lines.
Its place in history
Read the chapter before you go.
Where its treasures are now
Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük
c. 6000 BC. A corpulent woman seated between two felines, found in a grain bin in 1961; one of the most reproduced images of Neolithic Anatolia.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, AnkaraÇatalhöyük wall painting ('town plan')
c. 6600 BC. A mural of rows of houses under a twin-peaked mountain, often read as the oldest landscape or map painting, possibly of the volcano Hasan Dağı.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, AnkaraOldest preserved woven fabrics. Çatalhöyük textiles (oak bast fibre), 8,500–8,700 years old. Qualified How sure we are →
Oldest fermented bread (Guinness record). Çatalhöyük bread remains, c. 6600 BC. Qualified How sure we are →
Oldest known map, and earliest picture of a volcanic eruption. Çatalhöyük 'town plan' wall painting, c. 6600 BC. Disputed How sure we are →
Among the oldest manufactured mirrors. Çatalhöyük polished obsidian mirrors, c. 6000–5500 BC. Qualified How sure we are →
Also nearby
- 37 kmIconium (Konya)
City, Seljuk
- 39 kmBinbirkilise
Church cluster, Byzantine
- museumAkşehir Museum
- museumEreğli Museum (Konya)
- museumKonya Archaeology Museum
Herakles sarcophagus, Çatalhöyük finds
Location precise · Source (opens in a new tab)