As early as the 1960s, archaeologists suggested that Çatalhöyük in Turkey was a special place. And not only because it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Researchers also suspect that women had a particularly high social status in this Neolithic settlement, which is now located in Turkey. Until now, however, these assumptions were based only on figures found during excavations that resemble the mother goddesses of Anatolia.
With the modern methods available to archaeologists today, the assumption is proven - 9,000 years ago, women were at the center of society in Çatalhöyük. The international research team, led by geneticists from the Near East Technical University in Ankara, calls it a "female-centric society".
The scientists came to this conclusion after examining 131 skeletons buried under the ruins of the settlement. DNA analysis found that most of the people buried under the same house were blood relatives, and on the maternal line. In other words, when a man and woman entered into a partnership at Çatalhöyük, the couple lived in the woman's home, not the man's. There is another sign that women played an important role in the community - the researchers found nearly five times more artifacts buried with women's bodies than with men's.
Was Çatalhöyük a matriarchy?
In the more recent past, it was common for a woman to move in with her husband's family after marriage. Does the reversal of this principle mean that the people who inhabited Çatalhöyük from about 7100 to 6000 BC lived in a matriarchy?
Not necessarily, explains archaeologist Eva Rosenstock, who participated in the excavations at the site in Turkey. "The answer to the question of whether the woman settled with the man or vice versa does not provide clear information about who held power in the family unit," the expert says. "But usually the two things are related."
Exchanging children with neighbors
The DNA needed for the research was not easy to obtain. Çatalhöyük is located in a region with a continental climate, in which the amplitudes in temperatures between summer and winter are large. In such conditions, even teeth, until recently considered one of the best sources of DNA, are not eternal. But one particularly hard bone is an even better source of DNA: the temporal bone of the inner ear. "It's like a DNA safe," Rosenstock explains.
It was through analyzing this type of material that scientists have determined that those buried under the same house are related through the maternal line. It also became clear that not all of the buried were blood relatives. The researchers suggest that in the society of Çatalhöyük it was common to exchange children - for example, one family would give its child to the neighbors. Perhaps the purpose of this practice was to maintain social balance, Rosenstock suggests.
"Because if your child grows up three houses away from you, you are committed to not only ensuring that your household receives everything it needs," says the archaeologist. This may have been a way of ensuring a fair distribution of resources.
And how did this society change from matriarchal to patriarchal? Rosenstock doesn't have an answer to that question - at least not yet. "That's the next big question," the researcher notes.
Author: Carla Bleiker