New neighborhood found in Çatalhöyük

Ali Umut Türkcan, associate professor from Anadolu University and the head of the Çatalhöyük Neolithic site excavations, has said that they have discovered a street in the newly excavated area at the ancient site, uncovering a second neighborhood.

Speaking to press members about the Çatalhöyük Neolithic site, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and located in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, Türkcan said that they would open their new discoveries for discussion.

"We found a street in the newly excavated area, and we are even uncovering a second neighborhood. The more opportunities we are given, the more we will be able to uncover," Türkcan said, pointing out that only 6 percent of Çatalhöyük has been excavated so far.

Reminding that Çatalhöyük is the apple of the eye of the world, Türkcan said: "Çatalhöyük is an important settlement that will respond to the interest shown by Turkey. It is mentioned as the first city in the history of urbanization since the 1960s. Recently, we started to think of this place as just a settlement, but his needs to be reconsidered. It is be possible to say that this is a center that started an urban culture not only with its size and population but also with its assets and culture. Once again, we need to consider it as the beginning of urban culture. We need to discuss this not only with archaeologists but with all social scientists."

Türkcan recalled that an article about Çatalhöyük was published in Scientific American, adding, "The author, Annalee Newitz, tried to present Çatalhöyük under two headings in her article, namely 'the origin of the household' and the 'pioneer city.' She stressed that we should discuss these again. Now we will try to present this to the public with new excavations...