Çatalhöyük and Its Landscapes

T he landscape surrounding the site of Catalhoyuk has been transformed by centuries of land use and agricultural improvements (fig. 1). The most recent transformations started in the early twentieth century aiming to improve agricultural productivity by carrying out extensive irrigation and land-reclamation programs (Roberts 1990). Irrigation water was brought via the Beysehir-Sugla canal system which was completed around 1911 (Money 1919), bringing irrigation water from Lake Beysehir to the south. Further regulation of water supplies in the 1950s and 1960s included the construction of the Apa Dam on the Carsamba River (completed in 1962) and World Bank support for extending irrigation schemes (fig. 2). Unsurprisingly, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from Catalhoyuk suggests significantly different environments at the time of occupation from that of the modern landscape. Therefore, it is essential for archaeological interpretations to be underpinned by robust palaeoenvironmental reconstruc...