Ancient City - Biblical Witness
Imagine that you managed to go back in time and visit the first city built after Babylon? Well that's possible! Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient city in Turkey that literally hung in time. His unique findings speak of endless human ingenuity.
The so-called "people of the Stone Age" were much smarter than people think of them. They ran a farm, grazed cattle, made tools, created works of art, and did much of what we do today. They conducted rural, urban and international affairs (except that they had no planes).
This clay print is believed to depict a bear.
But archaeologists did not always have such an idea about this ancient city. When James Mellaart first stumbled upon a huge settlement in central Turkey - untouched by later settlers - no one suspected how many surprising things would be found. Well-preserved settlements are rare in the world of archeology. Usually ancient cities include different periods of time, and each new layer destroys the previous ones. The found mound from the top to the bottom belonged to the Stone Age. The period known as the Stone Age was so named because during this period people used stone tools. Iron artifacts have also been discovered, but they were mainly used for various ceremonies. The pottery was poorly processed and there was no writing at all.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this find was the size of the city - 0.5 km in length and 18 m in height. For all the time, archaeologists have found about 2,000 settlements, the inhabitants of which, according to most secular historians, roamed the earth in groups and collected food.
Since it is known that at that time the Hittites ruled in this area of the earth, most likely they were the first descendants of Canaan, the Hittites, who left Babylon (Genesis 10:15). It turns out that as soon as their numbers increased markedly, they settled in the place known today as Chatal-Guyuk (translated from Turkish as “forked mound”).
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Nice place to live
What caught their attention? The city is located on the Konya plain - the largest in Turkey. During the Ice Age, after the dispersal of the people from Babylon, this area was covered by a huge lake. At the end of the Ice Age, the lake dried up, leaving behind a thick layer of white limestone. The rivers continued to flow into the plain and brought in enriched sedimentary rocks from the adjacent mountains, depositing them along the edge of the plain.
Images of bulls and horns are common home furnishings.
The founders of the city built their homes on the fertile banks of the Karsamba River. At this point, the river floods every year and replenishes the soil, which is very similar to the flooding of the Nile River. Mellaart discovered that the inhabitants of Chatal Guyuk had learned to grow many crops. In some houses, different varieties of wheat were found. There are also traces of peas and lentils, as well as domestic and wild vetch. The locals collected wild almonds, pistachios, carcasses, and acorns, as well as seeds used as spices.
Although the flood has turned much of the plain into a marshland unsuitable for growing crops, it has brought many other benefits. The inhabitants of Chatal-Guyuk dug holes and mined clay and limestone. From clay they made bricks for building and made simple clay products. They coated houses with white lime clay, and also made drawings.
The city of Chatal Guyuk, located in the southern part of Turkey, dates back to about the time of Babylon. The houses were located very close to each other, so there were no streets and people entered the houses through the roofs.
Probably the biggest achievement of the local population was the extraction of volcanic dark glass (obsidian). As with any culture, until iron was found and the skill of smelting was refined, people used the materials they had the easiest access to. For the people who left Babylon, obsidian was such a stone. It broke off easily and kept its shape well when cutting.
A pile of obsidian plates and blades was found near almost every house in Chatal Guyuk, but this hardly tells us how valuable this material was to local residents. Spectrographic analysis showed that almost all obsidian in all ancient cities of Central Asia and the Middle East was obtained from two volcanoes in Turkey. This means that the inhabitants of Chatal Guyuk were engaged in trade with other cities up to Jericho (1600 km).
Nature
The remains of sheep and goats were found at the site. These domesticated animals were most likely fed with grains and wild grasses during dry periods. The found eggshells of geese and ducks suggests that people preferred to eat poultry meat. However, it is unclear whether these animals were domesticated or captured in local swamps.
Images of cattle are found on all houses of Chatal-Guyuk. Judging by the wall paintings, most likely they were wild animals caught for religious rituals. The skull and horns were removed, covered with plaster and installed on the walls of houses. Sometimes there are houses in which 2 or 3 of these skulls hang one after another on a small wall.
Domesticated dogs were also an important part of everyday life. However, these were probably not pets, but animals used for hunting. Wall paintings often contain hunting scenes involving dogs. During the excavations, not a single fact of the presence of dogs in the house was found, however, abandoned houses could be used by people as a place where animals were kept.
Each house consists of a central room and several adjoining rooms used for storing things, doing household chores and performing rituals.
A city without streets
One of the features of the city is the complete absence of public buildings, such as: palace, government offices, temples, granaries, hospital. By the way, there are practically no streets in the city. All houses are connected to each other end-to-end. The only way to enter the house is through the roof.
Although the population of the city could well be 5,000-8,000 inhabitants, technically this place can hardly be called a "city". There are no signs of division into districts for work and living, there are no poor and rich districts. Life was probably centered in the home itself, and each family lived its own life.
All houses are built according to a similar plan. People entered the house through the roof on steep steps or stairs that descend along the wall above the stove. This hole also served as a chimney.
Each house has a central room in which people likely cooked and did other work. Around this room there are other, smaller, rooms designed for relaxation, storage, and rituals. These parts of the house were only accessible through a low doorway. The rooms are equipped only with mats of different sizes, shapes and colors.
Each house was built from oak or juniper beams, between which pressed clay bricks were laid. To give a smooth surface, the walls were covered with plaster. Most of the houses are multi-layered; their occupants seem to have periodically hammered earthen walls and built a new home on top of them, reusing wooden props.
The house in Chatal-Guyuk was the center of the family, where people spent all their time: from birth to death. Burials were carried out in the house itself. The body was buried under the central room. During the excavations, the remains of people of different ages were discovered: from children to old people. About 70 bodies were buried in one of the houses. Babies were buried in a special way: they were placed in a basket along with jewelry.
People were usually buried under the floor of the central room.
What happened?
If life in Chatal Guyuk was so wonderful, why did everyone leave it? It turns out that environmental conditions have changed over time and made this place uninhabitable. The plain, located high above sea level (about 900 m), was separated from the ocean. Little precipitation fell here. Carbonaceous residues indicate that the changing climate has literally dried up the area. People gradually cut down mountain forests until they completely disappeared.
One of the wall paintings depicts a volcanic eruption, which art critics have called "the first landscape."
If life in Chatal Guyuk was so wonderful, why did everyone leave it? It turns out that environmental conditions have changed over time and made this place uninhabitable. The plain, located high above sea level (about 900 m), was separated from the ocean. Little precipitation fell here. Carbonaceous residues indicate that the changing climate has literally dried up the area. People gradually cut down mountain forests until they completely disappeared.
The difficult living conditions may have been documented by one of the local residents. One of the walls depicts a volcanic eruption, which supposedly occurred on Mount Hasan, 140 km from the city. Art critics called this drawing "the first landscape". At the time when Chatal Guyuk was inhabited by people, the volcano was active.
We may never know exactly what happened, but who knows what discoveries await us in the future. The work of James Mellaart, who excavated from 1961-1965, is continued by Jan Hodder. Living today is very interesting, because the history of the people who scattered from Babylon, including the amazing inhabitants of Chatal Guyuk, still continues to be pieced together.
Author: David Smith earned an MA in Theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and an MA in Bible Studies from the Jewish Union College, where he studied archeology and ancient history of the Near East.