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Yet More Evidence from Çatalhöyük

Yet More Evidence from Çatalhöyük

Scholars and others have repeatedly pointed out that one of the Early Neolithic wall paintings at Çatalhöyük, in south-central Turkey, depicts what looks remarkably like the neighboring volcano, Hasan Dağı, with its unusual double peak, and further, that the mural depicts an eruption of that mountain, which is painted red with arched as well as straight black lines spouting from one of its tops and little lines issuing from its bottom corners. What is seldom mentioned is that although the Neolithic village (thought to be depicted in the foreground) flourished and died ca. 6000 B.C.E., geologists place the last prior eruption of Hasan Dağı at ca. 7550 B.C.E. Several interesting and far-reaching deductions follow from a comparison of these points.

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Yet More Evidence from Çatalhöyük

By E.J.W. Barber

American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 114, No. 2 (April 2010), pp. 343–345

DOI: 10.3764/aja.114.2.343

© 2010 Archaeological Institute of America