Çatalhöyük, Cumra

Interesting UNESCO site you can access free of charge. There is a nice compilation of neolithic houses built for demonstration. Easy to kearn the whole history of excavations and what was found. Worth coming if you are in Konya or around.

The problem with neolithic is that it's fragile and so must be protected. This means covered with a roof and, if necessary, with sandbags to keep walls from collapsing. When I visited much of the place was covered with sandbags and there was relatively little to see. The little museum is nice and informative though most objects found here at çatalhöyük are kept elsewhere.

Living here is such a drag in some ways. Having to repaint my walls every year is real chore, but we can get away from the smoke on the sweet roof deck, where I try to spend most of my time. My neighbors and I walk roof-to-roof sometimes, we don’t even have to go down to the ground. I love working the fields here, too - they’re well irrigated and we hope to stay here a long time. 4 stars because, really, it's smokey indoors and some of my fields are a day's walk away.

Most Konyan hotel and tourism staff will tell you to give this site a miss, which is a shame because it's a true archaeological marvel that befits its UNESCO designation. Ongoing excavations have peeled back 9000 years of civilization that have been preserved in situ. Turkish schools send field trips here, and with the well-written English displays and model hits, I highly recommend it for junior archaeologists.

Everybody must see this place. Amazing!