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New archaeological evidence suggests that the people of Çatalhöyük, an ancient city founded in Turkey more than 9,000 years ago, faced many urban problems that we face today, including overcrowding and interpersonal violence. and sanitation problems.
At its peak about 8,500 years ago, Çatalhöyük (pronounced cha-tal-hoo-yook) housed between 3,500 and 8,000 people. This Neolithic agricultural settlement, located 40 kilometers south-east of Konya, in south-central Turkey, was an extraordinarily large community for its time. Archaeologists consider it a proto-urban city, having emerged only a few thousand years after the beginning of the transition of humans from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming.
A new study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that Çatalhöyük was a sign of the future, both in terms of human social organization and problems caused by life in the big cities. The people of Çatalhöyük "experienced what was happening when you were gathering many people in a small area for an extended period of time," said Clark Larsen, senior author of the new study and anthropologist at Ohio State University, in a statement released by OSU. In fact, like today's townspeople, the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük have had to deal with infectious diseases, overcrowding, violence and environmental degradation.
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Appeared around 7100 BC, Çatalhöyük grew rapidly after his humble beginnings as a small farming community living in mud brick houses. The colony flourished between 6700 and 6500 BC. AD, followed by a rapid decline that saw the city deserted up to 5950 BC. J. – C., as the researchers describe in their article.
Archaeologists first excavated Çatalhöyük in 1958. Located on the southern plateau of Anatolia, it stretches over an area of 10 hectares and includes up to 18 settlement layers. extending over 21 meters; the city has been continuously occupied for more than 1,150 years. Çatalhöyük was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. The last excavation project ended two years ago and paved the way for the new study.
The authors of the new study, in addition to analyzing the remains of plants and animals, also examined the skeletal remains of 742 individuals dating between 7100 and 5950 BC. Isotopic analysis showed that the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük ate a lot of wheat, barley, rye, wild plants, sheep, goats and wild animals. This Anatolian community had adopted a Neolithic diet rich in vegetable carbohydrates and foods such as bread and porridge – but this posed a rather familiar problem: tooth decay. Up to 13% of the adult skeletons found on the site had dental caries.
More than a third of the skeletons showed signs of infectious diseases. Living close to each other was important, but the spread of diseases was also linked to living near livestock, especially sheep – a staple of Çatalhöyük's diet, but an animal which housed dangerous parasites.
"They live in overcrowded conditions, with garbage pits and animal pens right next to some of their homes," Larsen said. "So there is a whole series of sanitation problems that could contribute to the spread of infectious diseases."
Fascinating, the skeletons also showed more wear and tear at the end of the settlement period. More precisely, the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük in the late period walked much more than their predecessors. The authors of the new study stated that it was evidence that agricultural sites were moving further and further away from the city over time. The region also began to dry out, which did not help.
"We believe that environmental degradation and climate change have forced community members to move away from the settlement to settle and grow firewood," Larsen said. "This contributed to the ultimate disappearance of Çatalhöyük."
Life in Çatalhöyük was tough. It is possible that "overcrowding has resulted in increased stress and conflict within the community," said Larsen. The analysis of the skeletons showed signs of interpersonal violence, as evidenced by a plethora of head injuries. Of the 93 skulls analyzed, 25 showed signs of healed fractures. Twelve skulls showed signs of trauma repeatedly. These injuries were observed on both the male and female skull, and injuries tend to appear on the back of the head, suggesting that the victims were struck from behind.
Of course, life in Çatalhöyük was not completely dark. Archaeological excavations yielded murals, clay figurines, obsidian mirrors and carved reliefs on the walls. It was a very united and culturally vibrant community.
Interestingly, the new study has resulted in a mystery. The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük participated in a funeral ceremony during which dead people were buried under the floor of their house. However, a genetic analysis of these remains shows that most individuals buried together were not biologically related. It was an unexpected discovery that deserved to be deepened, noted the authors.
