DICTATIONS-English

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Çatal Hüyük (now in Anatolia, Turkey) was one of
the world's first cities. In fact, many people think it is
the oldest city. It was an important and busy place
for 2,000 years, from about 7000 BC to 5000 BC.
Compared with today's cities, it wasn't big; in 6250 BC,
there were only about 6,000 people there.
The people were, we believe, kind and peaceful.
Many of the people were farmers, but the city was
also a centre of trade and ideas. Çatal Hüyük was
rich and well organised, but life was very short: an
average age of 34 years for men and 29 for women.
Women were important in this city: many were
in high positions and there were a lot of special
goddesses.
There weren't any streets in the city; most of the
houses were around a central courtyard. There
weren't any doors in the houses. There was an
entrance to each house through a hole in the roof
and down a ladder. Inside, there were paintings of
animals and people on some of the walls.