Apparently the site owed its economic life and existence to the obsidian trade.New Dig at 9,000-Year-Old City Is Changing Views on Ancient Life"Mellaart saw Catalhoyuk as divided into shrines and nonshrines," said the project director, Ian Hodder, a Cambridge University archaeologist, as he paused near houses under excavation. "He saw shrines and an elite priestly group living in one area. Mellaart looked at the site through the eyes of Mesopotamia and later urban societies and viewed it as politically complex. We're seeing it as large but politically simple without a class or elite with specialized functions."
by Edward Demarco
November 11, 1997
NY Times
One could look at Italy, the history and structures, and imagine that it is politically complex.
But if you ask an Italian about the government affairs today, he will say, "No one cares."
Rather simple for the majority of the population.