An eruption on a neolithic wall
In the early 1960s, archaeologist James Mellaart excavated a wall painting, or mural, from the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük. The ochre-painted artwork, measuring about 3 meters wide, was found in a building on an excavation level dated to around 6600 BCE. The painting has two main parts. The lower section shows around 80 geometric, box-like shapes arranged in a terraced pattern, resembling the layout of the houses at Çatalhöyük. Above this "town plan" rises a large, twin-peaked mountain. The mountain is shown covered in dots and with lines emitting from its summit.
Mellaart interpreted this image as a depiction of the nearby twin-peaked volcano, Hasan Dağı, during an eruption. Hasan Dağı is a stratovolcano located about 130 kilometers northeast of Çatalhöyük. This interpretation makes the mural a possible example of the world's oldest map or landscape painting. The view is not universally accepted. Some researchers have argued the upper image is a representation of a leopard skin, a common motif at the site, and the lower portion is simply a geometric design.
The geological evidence
For decades, the volcano theory lacked direct physical evidence of a corresponding eruption. That changed when a team led by volcanologist Axel Schmitt of UCLA decided to test the hypothesis. They collected samples of pumice, a type of volcanic rock, from the summit and flanks of Hasan Dağı. Using (U-Th)/He zircon geochronology, a method for dating rock, the scientists determined the age of the volcanic deposits.
The results provided a geological link. The analysis dated a small-scale, explosive eruption on Hasan Dağı to approximately 8,970 years ago, with a margin of error of 640 years. This timeframe, roughly 6960 BCE, overlaps with the period when Çatalhöyük was inhabited and the mural was created. The type of eruption was consistent with a Strombolian-type event, a relatively mild explosive eruption. This geological evidence supports the interpretation that the Neolithic inhabitants of Çatalhöyük witnessed an eruption of Hasan Dağı and recorded the event on a wall.