Overview
The ancient site of Çatalhöyük lies in the Konya Plain in present-day Turkey. Today the site manifests as two large tells, or man-made hills, the earlier and larger Eastern Tell and the smaller, slightly more recent Western Tell. Within these unassuming tells, however, lie the remnants of what is one of the earliest known cities.  Archaeologists from the 1960’s to the present day have worked to excavate Çatalhöyük, uncovering insights into lifestyle and complexity during a period of major change in human history. Çatalhöyük was inhabited from a period of approximately 7,400 BCE to 5,600 BCE, which places the city in a time period dubbed the Neolithic. This period is notable among archaeologists as a time during which many human populations began to domesticate plants and animals on a regular basis and transition from a hunter/gathering to an agricultural method of subsistence. The adoption of agriculture seems to have led to a more sedentary lifestyle and increased population size, as many individuals came together to work specific plots of land. Increases in population size pose questions about the development of social hierarchy and complexity, and Çatalhöyük offers an ideal site to investigate such questions.
Environment & Economy
During the time of Çatalhöyük’s habitation, rich wetlands allowed for agriculture; however, seasonal flooding around the area of the tells may have meant that agriculture could only be carried out at slightly farther distances from the settlement area. This may have led to increasing networks and more distant resource usage. While early occupations of Çatalhöyük suggest communal resource use and interdependence, increasing use of distant materials and lands may have over time caused a switch toward more household- or individual-centered economies.
Social organization
Çatalhöyük lacks any real signs of hierarchy, as all buildings on the site are domestic in nature. Houses were constructed directly next to one another, such that there was little to no space to travel between them. Ladders extended from the inside of dwelling places to exits through roofs, and movement between houses would have occurred via rooftop. Over time old houses were filled in or burnt down, and when this occurred new dwellings were built directly on previously existing ones. This cycle of replacement led to the gradual elevation of the tell that we see today. While some houses seem more ornate than others in terms of size and decoration, the lack of ritualistic and social spaces suggests a relatively egalitarian society. This equality seems to have extended to gender roles. Many skeletons have been retrieved from the site, and these suggest fairly even distribution of work. Soot can be found caked on the ribs of both male and female skeletons, showing that all individuals spent quite a bit of time indoors where fires were built. Additionally, skeletons tend to reflect the hardships that an individual suffers in life, and the elemental components of bone can be analyzed to determine aspects of an individual’s diet (this is a type of investigation known as stable isotope analysis). There is no significant difference in the amount of disease, work-related stressors or injuries, or dietary intake between men and women at Çatalhöyük, which all goes to indicate a fairly equal division of labor and resources amongst all individuals.

Ideology
We have no written record from Çatalhöyük, which means that there is no direct insight into ideological beliefs. However, a large number of clues lead us to make some speculations about the worldviews of the Neolithic residents. House walls at Çatalhöyük were often ornately painted, suggesting a rich abundance of symbolic and artistic expression. Additionally, the remains of deceased individuals were buried beneath the floors of housing structures. It appears as though some of these skeletons were retrieved some time after burial, ritually beheaded (leaving cut marks on the skeletal material, and reinterred at later dates. Perhaps these individuals represented heads of family or historically notable figures - this evidence offers clues into the perception of family structure, ancestor veneration, and the afterlife. Statuettes of both male and female figures also suggest ritual worship of ancient deities, though details of such a possible religion are still sparse.