Archaeologists find ancient matrilineal society in Turkiye’s Catalhoyuk

About 9,000 years ago, the Neolithic settlement of Catalhoyuk was an egalitarian, matrilineal society with no evidence of organised violence.

Catalhoyuk, Turkiye – About an hour southeast of Konya lies one of the most exciting Neolithic finds of the 20th century – the densely populated settlement of Catalhoyuk.

Occupied for 1,000 years from about 7000 to 6000 BC, Catalhoyuk has drawn archaeologists since its discovery in 1958 as they have tried to piece together how its society worked.

A recent genomics study published in the journal Science revealed that Catalhoyuk’s gender dynamics made it unique among European Neolithic settlements.

The discovery centres around matrilocality, the fact that women remained in their homes while males were more likely to move away when they reached adulthood.

The study’s 46 authors “estimated that 70 to 100% of the time, female offspring remained connected to buildings”, in contrast to other European Neolithic communities, which were patrilineal and patrilocal.

Catalhoyuk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is possibly the world’s first city with clusters of buildings, agricultural production, rituals and even ornamentation.

Today, its remains are in two large tells, or mounds, that have formed over successive generations that built, demolished and built again on the sites.

The homes in Catalhoyuk were built directly on top of one another. Excavations have found about 18 layers of construction, leading to a theory that its inhabitants filled in the lower level of buildings, demolished any structures above them and built new homes on top.

The two tells lie east and west of a now-dry river that likely branched out into fertile deltas. The west mound was left behind by a later community while the east mound is the Neolithic settlement.

Estimates vary as to Catalhoyuk’s population, but archaeologists have agreed it likely fluctuated over time as people moved to it or away, reaching peak habitation of 3,500 to 8,000 people at times.

The housing clusters were so tightly packed that there were no streets or front doors. Instead, inhabitants probably moved from one building to another over the roofs, which acted as pathways and gathering spaces.

To get into their houses, residents would climb through ceiling hatches that led down to a hearth.

On the opposite end away from the hearth in many of these buildings were clay platforms under which the early inhabitants of Catalhoyuk buried their dead in pits below the homes.

In line with the general equality being uncovered, Catalhoyuk didn’t seem to have buildings that were ob