The eastern settlement forms a mound that would have risen about 20 m (66 ft) above the plain at the time of the latest Neolithic occupation.

A channel of the Çarşamba River once flowed between the two mounds, and the settlement was built on alluvial clay which may have been favorable for early agriculture.

[9] Mellaart was banned from Turkey for his involvement in the Dorak affair, in which he published drawings of supposedly important Bronze Age artifacts that later went missing.

[10] After this scandal, the site lay idle until 1993, when excavations began under the leadership of Ian Hodder, then at the University of Cambridge.

Hodder, a former student of Mellaart, chose the site as the first "real world" test of his then-controversial theory of post-processual archaeology.

[17] According to Mickel, Hodder's Çatalhöyük Research Project (ÇRP) established itself as a site for progressive methodologies – in terms of adaptable and democratized recording, integration of computerized technologies, sampling strategies, and community involvement.

Archaeologists identified very little rubbish in the buildings, finding middens outside the ruins, with sewage and food waste, as well as significant amounts of ash from burning wood, reeds, and animal dung.

Over time, houses were renewed by partial demolition and rebuilding on a foundation of rubble, which was how the mound was gradually built up.

Distinctive clay figurines of women, notably the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük, have been found in the upper levels of the site.

[23] Although no identifiable temples have been found, the graves, murals, and figurines suggest that the people of Çatalhöyük had a religion rich in symbols.

Stephanie Meece, for example, argues that it is more likely a painting of a leopard skin instead of a volcano, and a decorative geometric design instead of a map.

Mellaart, the original excavator, argued that these carefully made figurines, carved and molded from marble, blue and brown limestone, schist, calcite, basalt, alabaster, and clay, represented a female deity.

The stately goddess seated on a throne flanked by two lionesses was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply.

They found one similar figurine, but the vast majority did not imitate the Mother Goddess style that Mellaart suggested.

"[32] In another article in the Hurriyet Daily News Hodder is reported to say "We have learned that men and women were equally approached".

[33] In a report in September 2009 on the discovery of around 2000 figurines Hodder is quoted as saying: Çatalhöyük was excavated in the 1960s in a methodical way, but not using the full range of natural science techniques that are available to us today.

[34] Estonian folklorist Uku Masing has suggested as early as in 1976, that Çatalhöyük was probably a hunting and gathering religion and the Mother Goddess figurine did not represent a female deity.

[36] Çatalhöyük has strong evidence of an egalitarian society, as no houses with distinctive features (belonging to royalty or religious hierarchy for example) have been found so far.

They learned how to perform rituals and how to build or repair houses by watching the adults make statues, beads, and other objects.

Furthermore, because no nearby towns were found from which marriage partners could be drawn, "this spatial separation must have marked two intermarrying kinship groups."

[39] In the upper levels of the site, it becomes apparent that the people of Çatalhöyük were honing skills in agriculture and the domestication of animals.

Noting the lack of hierarchy and economic inequality, historian and anti-capitalist author Murray Bookchin has argued that Çatalhöyük was an early example of anarcho-communism.

Full information on all aspects of the various discoveries is available in eight rooms, including an underground reconstruction of a typical dwelling used by people of 90 centuries ago.