Çatalhöyük is known as one of the oldest buildings in the world. Located in modern-day Turkey, it is dated to be around 9,400 years old, the location suggests that human activity started around 7,400 BCE. The edifice was maintained for over 2,000 years. Experts believe that the society of humans that built this building had mastered agriculture. This is because the materials needed to create the Çatalhöyük could only be achieved by a group of people who had organization and had easy access to natural resources.
The Çatalhöyük is believed to be a vast settlement, expanding for about 34 acres. Archaeologists believe that it could be home to around 3,000 to 8,000 people.
“Today we know that Çatalhöyük was not the earliest or the largest farming community in Anatolia and the Levant; however, it was a major participant in the cultural and economic changes that swept across the Near East in the Neolithic Period,” UNESCO explained. “Its strategic location in Anatolia made it a bridgehead for the spread of the Neolithic way of life to Europe and beyond.”
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