News Archaeology

One of the world’s earliest farming villages housed surprisingly few people

Prior estimates assumed that its buildings were simultaneously constructed — and occupied

Many unearthed partial structures dot a large dig site protected by a modern roof

Excavations of dense clusters of buildings at Çatalhöyük, such as the one shown here, have resulted in inflated population estimates for one of the world’s earliest known farming villages, researchers say.

Çatalhöyük/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED)

By Bruce Bower

A farming-fueled baby boom long thought to have sparked the rise of ancient cities in southwest Asia turns out to have been a bust.