On the Konya plain, Çatalhöyük is not a skyline of isolated monuments. It is a pair of low mounds built up through repeated occupation, where the remains of houses and shared life lie beneath the surface. UNESCO describes a 37-hectare property with an eastern and western mound. The eastern mound preserves eighteen Neolithic occupation levels dating between about 7400 and 6200 BCE; the western mound records later Chalcolithic life from about 6200 to 5200 BCE.
The most memorable feature is the settlement’s compact plan. Houses were built close together, back to back, with no conventional street network. People moved across roofs and entered many homes through openings above, using ladders to descend. This arrangement makes the roof more than a shelter: it was part of the circulation system. From the excavated areas, the pattern helps visitors imagine a neighbourhood that grew by adding houses rather than laying out broad roads first.