Çatalhöyük, the Neolithic City that pre-dated the Ancient Egyptians by 4,000 years!

The absolute oldest such site though, is Gobekli Tepe, also from turkey, which dates to 9000 B.C. 11,500 years ago. I find that date fascinating because it corresponds to:

The Younger Dryas "Event" of 10,900 BP (before present

The earliest civilization in the Americas,Norte Chico , oldest radiocarbon (yet) dated to 11,220 BP

Famously, Plato's assertion of the destruction of Atlantis "9,000 years before the time of solon" or approximately 11,610

The site itself is interesting for many reasons.

Genetic analysis has suggested that it was the area wheat was first cultivated.

When it was abandoned in 8,000, it was deliberately and extensively covered up, and has therefore been well preserved.

Also, from This Article,

"Look at this", he says, pointing at a photo of an exquisitely carved sculpture showing an animal, half-human, half-lion. "It’s a sphinx, thousands of years before Egypt. Southeastern Turkey, northern Syria - this region saw the wedding night of our civilization."




[edit on 19-1-2010 by CognitiveInfiltrator]

Originally posted by troubleshooter
reply to post by kiwifoot

 

This is very interesting...
...do you know how they calculated the age of the settlement?

More than likely through Radio Carbon (C-14) dating, although there are often reservations over the accuracy of RC-14 dating for anything over ~5,000 years. Radiometric dating could be used on the non carboniferous items, such as stone tools etc, but is also not exactly accurate.

We are finding out all the time about our history on this world , its a shame we are ruining our future , and I wonder what future generations will make of us if there are any.

Well, I don't know what constitutes a city but they are finding the general area of South Africa seems to have been a megalopolous about half a million years old.

www.adamscalendar.com...
www.slavespecies.com...

Not that I buy into this as the oldest....

Originally posted by DataWraith
We are finding out all the time about our history on this world , its a shame we are ruining our future , and I wonder what future generations will make of us if there are any.

yes we look back at our ancestors an ancient civilisations and think how remarkable they were and how much they knew...its a shame that people in the future will look back to us and think how stupid we were and how little we know...thats if we dont destroy our future.

on a different note...doesnt discoveries like this discredit things in the bible? just more proof as to religion being mumbo jumbo.

Great work.

The women figurines suggest some very well fed matriarchs! Or do you think it's just the artist creating his "dream" girl? It's safe to say the idea of "junk in the trunk" is an ancient obsession!

reply to post by kiwifoot


Nicely done! Nice summation, photos and good links.

The outside walls having no openings makes good sense. This was likely a first step toward a walled city. A communal wall of protection. That also explains the tendency to keep livestock, burials and more inside. It's just safer for your stuff. Would this have been a carry over from cave dwelling?I'm not that up on these topics.

Originally posted by evo190
Great work.

The women figurines suggest some very well fed matriarchs! Or do you think it's just the artist creating his "dream" girl? It's safe to say the idea of "junk in the trunk" is an ancient obsession!

Those figurines are fertility symbols (whether crop fertility or human fertility I don't know, maybe both). Either way, the symbology of a fat woman in times prior to our modern obsession with skinny celebrity style women was a sign of wealth, prosperity and fertility and "chunky" women were seen as attractive, as they were seen as more fertile and so a better bet for procreation, hence the term "Child bearing hips".

Personally, give me a woman with a little extra padding over a stick insect any day!

reply to post by kiwifoot


You don't feature a picture in your posts, but what has always intrigued me about this site is the figurine of the god Bes that was found there. It contradicts all known information about Bes by it's very presence in Turkey at that time. There seems a reluctance to acknowledge that the discovery of these phallus gods is suggestive of a suppression, here and at other sites in Central Europe, at some point, of the male role in creation.

It's a very interesting site, as are the others that have more recently been uncovered around the Black Sea. Thanks for posting.

i feel like the god-mother was an actual entity or possibly lineage of beings/people that resulted in matriarchal societies like Russia, Finland, some of the Baltic region, France, and Great Britain. At some point though, I think another lineage appeared on earth as a patriarch society that has been conflicting with the matriarchies ever since.

Hi ATS I've been a watcher of ATS for a long time but today i had to register an account in here just to say this: omg what a great treat very well done and very very interesting thank you for your research and post it in here..

sense im new sorry i dont know how to flag xD

reply to post by Benov1


look for the red button near the corner of the thread.

Awesome Fine! S&F!

What i love about the find, along with the other "cities" found that predate the egyptians, is that it shows how our ancestors were getting together and setting the foundations for intellectual growth. A nomad wouldn't have the time to sit around and think about math or map out the skies. They would be too busy trying not to get killed and worrying about finding food and shelter. But when they settle down with a group of people, all working together to build borders for their new homes and making sure everyone has what they need to survive, they have the free time to think.
Even though this city might not have been the foundation for a civilization like Egypt, its important because it shows the "evolution" of the human race.

Originally posted by shamhat
reply to post by kiwifoot

 

You don't feature a picture in your posts, but what has always intrigued me about this site is the figurine of the god Bes that was found there. It contradicts all known information about Bes by it's very presence in Turkey at that time.

That bit's suspicious to me, since Bes is a more modern Egyptian deity. I think it's likely to be a spirit/deity with similar physical traits but not Bes himself.

There seems a reluctance to acknowledge that the discovery of these phallus gods is suggestive of a suppression, here and at other sites in Central Europe, at some point, of the male role in creation.

They were hardly suppressed in those days (although in modern times we seem to be a bit reluctant to show anything with unclothed males in it.) Rome had a lot of statues of Priapus (there's a spectacular figure -- it was good luck to rub the tip of his erection), Hermes, Phales, Coyote, Kokopelli, Min, Pan (and satyrs), Itzamma, Mutinus Mutunus, and more... all shown in their cultures as nude and with very large erections.

In ancient Greece and Rome it was very common to find statues of Priapus on street corners.

If memory serves, the number of phallic gods around is larger than the number of vulvular goddesses.

Anyway, very common in ancient times, very much talked about in titters and giggles in modern times (something that would have our ancestors laughing hysterically at our prudishness.)

reply to post by kiwifoot
Bloody good thread Kiwi. Again, well-laid out, interesting and colourful. I'm kinda bummed out that there's not much to add to the OPs. Here's a couple of images you missed...


Museum reconstruction of a room at Çatalhöyük


'Mother Godess flanked by two lions.'

Crikey! She sure was a pretty young thing! I'm sure she'll be going in the porn folders of many a younger ATS member...growl

Excellent job Kiwifoot!! This is the kind of info and presentation that brought me here in the first place (OK, it's not that long but still )

Keep up the good work mate! A start and a flag for you

P.S. Byrd, Priapus was Greek, he was associated with Dionysos and his statues of "male potency" (for lack of better words without sounding like a smut novel ) were very common an ancient Greece. I am not familiar with when they first appeared in Rome though, I'd suspect around the 2nd century BC or thereabouts.

nice post, I am familiar with catalhuyuk I remember my history teacher in high school telling us how its the oldest city. It mentions it in the text books also.

Originally posted by Tantalus
This was great! I love hearing about newly (more or less lol) discovered cities, least the ones I haven't known about yet. Can't wait for more! I've gotta research this city, and learn to say its name lol

I can attempt a pronounciation. Something like "Chatal-heyouk" (the "e" pronounced as in "bet" and the "ou" as in "prude")

To Kandinski:

Man, that room looks phenomenal! Throw in a phone plug, 2-3 power sockets and I am off to live there! And all those bullhorns can make nice clothes hangers

The "Mother Goddess" though I will pass, she is too obese for my taste

reply to post by kiwifoot


Fascinating.

Nice work Kiwifoot, S&F.