Check out Ken MacLeod’s discussion of possible evidence for a Neolithic revolution that may have replaced a sanguinary theocracy with a non-hierarchical society that lasted for the next three millennia.
While one must be wary of succumbing to wishful thinking when evaluating such hypotheses, it’s certainly interesting. Plus it’s nice to see Çatalhöyük spelled correctly for a change. Outside of Turkey, Höyük is frequently, and used to be almost invariably, spelled Hüyük – a most unlikely spelling given how Turkish syllable formation works. (I don’t remember much of the Turkish I once learned, but I remember that much!)