Enlarge / Artist's reconstruction of the east and west mounds at Çatalhöyük. In the foreground, you can see the newer west mound, with the older east mound decaying in the background. (credit: Çatalhöyük Research Project) Around 8,200 years ago, melting glaciers poured fresh, cold water into the North Atlantic, causing the climate in Europe and southwest Asia to turn suddenly colder and drier for about the next 160 years.