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ÇATALHÖYÜK on the Anatolian plateau in Turkey is a truly rare archaeological site. Discovered in 1958 by the British archaeologist James Mellaart, it has hundreds of structures, astounding art and a precociously early Stone Age date of 7000 BC. The paintings, sculptures, burials and artefacts uncovered here are Neolithic wonders that have thrown a spotlight on the origins of civilisation.

In The Goddess and the Bull Michael Balter takes us on an intimate and revealing journey through 9000 years of cultural evolution, and 40 years of archaeology’s own turbulent intellectual development. He traces Mellaart’s early excavations, and chronicles the path-breaking multidisciplinary investigations of the University of Cambridge’s Ian Hodder and his international team, who have been re-examining the site since the early 1990s. New areas were excavated this summer.

Çatalhöyük has yielded new and provocative insights into the origins of settled life. Obsidian mirrors, a young lamb interred alongside a human burial, a human skull wearing a new face modelled in plaster, and loved ones buried forever close under the floor of a house, are all indicative of a prehistoric philosophy.

What did these people think about themselves, their animals and their volcanic landscape? What did they see in their dark reflections?

These are the searching questions that have shaped this evocative book. It is a compelling story that should be read by anyone interested in how we came to be what we are.