James Mellaart saw a volcano when he excavated this mural in the
1960s:
"A clearer picture of a volcano in eruption could hardly have
been painted: the fire coming out of the top, lava streams from
vents at its base, clouds of smoke and glowing ash hanging over its
peak . . ."
-James Mellart
Project Director (1960's)

Tristan Carter, a chipped stone tool specialist working at
Çatalhöyük today, sees leopard skin:
"I'm not sure; in some ways it looks quite a lot like the
leopard skins that were painted elsewhere."
-Dr.Tristan "Stringy" Carter

Mural depicting leopard skin.
Each mural at Çatalhöyük presents this sort of mystery.
Explore some of the murals
yourself and see what you think they
might have represented to the people who painted them.