The Mystery of the Neolithic "Metropolis": What the Sad Story of Chatal Huyuk Teaches

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

About nine thousand years ago, in the Neolithic era, an ancient city existed on the territory of modern Turkey. It was so overcrowded that its residents had to climb into their homes through rooftops. Its sad story is eloquent demonstration of what an overgrowth of population in cities can lead to.

Archaeologists working at the site of the famous Neolithic city of Chatal Huyuk (Chatalheyuk) in southern Turkey are confident that it was one of the earliest large cities in the world. At the peak of its heyday, when the ancient people began to switch to agriculture, Chatal-Huyuk accommodated eight thousand people on its territory.

For a quarter of a century, archaeologists have been collecting data about the ancient city and its inhabitants. During this period, the remains of 742 people were found.

Despite the fact that the city had a very high infant mortality, as well as the mortality of women during childbirth, the adult inhabitants of the city were originally in good health, were hardy and were much better physically developed than modern people. They ate well, eating enough meat.

If a city dweller did not die in childhood, then in the future he could live up to forty, and some, as studies of the remains showed, could live even more than seventy years.

In order to accommodate thousands of people in a relatively small area, houses in the ancient city were built close to each other, therefore, in order to get into their dwelling, a person had to first climb onto the roof and reach the entrance hole located in it. As a rule, there were no windows in the dwellings.

The walls of neighboring dwellings were not common, but it was impossible to pass between them - the houses were so densely packed. Separate sections of the space not built up with houses could serve as places for dumping general garbage.

By the way, there was a practice in the city to build on houses, in other words, to build new ones on top of the old ones.

On the site of the ancient "metropolis", many damaged human heads were found, as well as similarity of shells, which, according to archaeologists, indicates an increased level of interpersonal violence. Such "shells", which were clay balls, hit about one in four of the skulls found. Apparently, the inhabitants were shooting at each other with these balls and with the help of slingshots (they were also found during excavations). Scientists associate such a strong aggression that flourished in society precisely with the steady growth of the population.

By the way, many of the victims were women, and judging by the artifacts found, most of them were struck in the head from behind.

In addition to the increased aggression, scientists discovered another negative consequence of such a high population growth: a bacterial infection began to rage in the city. Signs of her affection were found in almost 33% of the skeletons.

According to lead author Clark Spencer Larsen, professor of anthropology at Ohio State University, the interior walls and floors of houses have traces of human and animal faeces that could also cause infections.

“Garbage pits, latrines and pens for animals were located close to some houses. This could become the reason for unsanitary conditions, which led to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, explained Larsen.

- Chatal Huyuk was one of the first prototypes of a large city in the world, and by the example of its inhabitants you can clearly see what happens when you gather a lot of people in a relatively small area for a long time, - sums up Larsen, - This is very similar to those problems that we encounter today in modern metropolitan areas.

Changes in the shape of the cross-sections of the bones of the legs in the skeletons found indicate that in the later period of the city's development, members of the community had to walk much more than the early inhabitants. This is due to the fact that grazing areas had to be moved further from the city over time. Scientists believe that changes in the environment and climate have also forced community members to move further from the village - in particular, in order to get firewood. And this contributed to the final demise of Chatal Huyuk.

“Looking at the overpopulated Neolithic city, we certainly have something to think about,” the researchers say. - His story warns modern people against possible mistakes.

No less interesting and even more mysterious story Mohenjo-Daro - an ideal ancient city, all of whose inhabitants died in an instant.