In addition to Mevlana Museum, Sema the Whirling Dervishes, and the beautiful medieval mosques in the city centre, there is another world-class tourist attraction in Konya that is worthy of visit for those interested in history and archaeology. Catalhoyuk, about an hour by car south of Konya, is the site of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement dated from about 7500BC to 5700BC. The site, first excavated in 1958 by well-known British archaeologist James Mellaart, is currently being excavated by a team of leading archaeologists from all over the world under the direction of the renown archaeologist Ian Hodder who taught at Cambridge and now at Stanford.
It is kind of possible to get to Catalhoyuk by public transport from Konya. Frequent buses and several trains a day connect Konya with Cumra, the town closest to the site of Catalhoyuk. Regular buses leave from Konya's Ilce Garaj (Provincial Bus Station), just a short walk from Mevlana Caddesi and not to be confused with the much larger inter-city bus station outside of Konya. The journey takes about an hour. Once in Cumra, one can either walk the 11km from Cumra to Catalhoyuk during good weather (the road is relatively flat), hitch a hike from locals, or take a taxi from Cumra's bus station to the entrance of Catalhoyuk. There is no dolmus between Cumra and Catalhoyuk as there is no village near by, only fields and the excavation site. Taxi fares can be negotiated; I paid 40TL for the 22km journey (11km to Catalhoyuk, 11km coming back to Cumra), the taxi driver would wait at the entrance while visitors walk around the site.
The excavation site is divided into two major areas, both of which are protected by a giant roof structure to shelter the finds from the elements. Entrance is free but all visitors must first report to the guard house located right next to the main gate and be accompanied at all times by a member of the security guards during the visit to the site. There is also a small museum next to the main gate with some exhibits, including several pieces of valuable artefacts unearthed during excavations throughout the years.
The site is open to visitors all year round, but excavation works are carried out only during the summer months. So far, diggings at Catalhoyuk have unearthed 18 layers of settlements, with each new layer being built on top of the ruins of the previous layer. The site of Catalhoyuk consisted of domestic houses, which have no windows or streets. The interior of the houses was accesible from an opening on the top of the roof via a ladder, and roof also acted as communal street or path for residents of the community. (Probably similar to the houses in the village of Oia on the island of Santorini where roof of houses located at the lower end of the hillside serve as the access path for the houses on the layers above.)
A typical house at Catalhoyuk has a room which serves a lounge for the family members, and a smaller room in the side further divided into two subchambers, which the archaeologists believe are used for storage. The bigger main room has a hearth, raised platforms and plastered walls, some of which even have coloured mural 'designs' or paintings depicting wild animals and figures.
Human remains were unearthed in burial platforms located under the floor of the houses in Catalhoyuk; the mummified remains of a Catalhoyuk resident - one of the oldest of its kind in the world - is on display at the Archaeological Museum in Konya.
To be honest, unless you have some knowledge about the history of Neolithic settlements in Anatolia, or are very interested in getting to know more about the Neolithic settlements in Anatolia, one might not be able to appreciate much from what is available on view at the excavation site. To help visitors better understand the significance of this pre-historic settlement, the excavation team has set up a life-size model of a typical Catalhoyuk house with hearth, bed, raised platforms, roof top entrance, storage rooms, oven in the wall and mural paintings on the wall to enable the visitors to better conceptualise how life once was like in such a house. There is also a small exhibition room with detail information and photos about the history of the site, the excavations, the findings, and some of the mud clay figures discovered during the excavations are also on display in the room.
Look at the zebra-strip like paintings on the left side of the wall: they are the painted murals on plastered walls found in many Catalhoyuk houses.
There is a small shop selling drinks and some snacks right at the front gate of Catalhoyuk, but it is closed in winter. Those visiting in winter are advised to take their own refreshments with them.
Copyrights@2011. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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