Turkey’s stone mound projects, including Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, contain some of the oldest gathering and ceremonial structures in the world, dating back to 9,500 BC.
Turkey last week unveiled dozens of new discoveries at a major archaeological site in southeastern Turkey, shedding new light on a region seen as showing humanity’s transition from a hunter-gatherer to a settled society more than 11,000 years ago.
On a plateau overlooking a fertile plain often called the “Cradle of Civilization,” the UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbekli Tepe and nearby Karahan Tepe are changing archaeologists’ understanding of prehistory.
One of the latest discoveries in the province of Sanliurfa is a statue with a facial expression reminiscent of the deceased. Archaeologists say this is a unique discovery in terms of death rituals and symbolic expressions of Neolithic communities.
It was one of about 30 artifacts unveiled last week that included human and animal statues, figurines, vessels, plates, necklaces and beads, including one in human form.
“These archaeological sites are unique in that they reshape our understanding of Neolithic history and the transition to settled life,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told Reuters.
A pillar and a human figure stand at the Karahan Tepe excavation site near the city of Sanliurfa in southeastern Tundra. Göbekli Tepe is widely considered to be the key to understanding symbolic ideas, social complexity and the birth of monumental architecture, thousands of years before the existence of a city or country.
He said the sites, which Turkey calls the Stone Mound Project, showed that humans had a much higher level of consciousness in terms of beliefs, rituals, social organization and cultural production than previously thought.
Göbekli Tepe and Karahantepe reveal earliest ceremonial sites
He said Göbekli Tepe was expected to attract about 800,000 visitors this year, indicating a growing awareness of the site’s importance.
The ministry-led project covers the sites of 12 Neolithic settlement communities in Sanliurfa, dating back to 9,500 BC, with Gobeklitepe and Karahantepe containing the world’s oldest structures used for gatherings and performing rituals.
The most striking feature of these sites is an oval-shaped monumental building with a diameter of 28 meters, surrounded by T-shaped limestone columns that are seen as representations of humanity, some of which also depict animal reliefs.
Archaeologists say a recent excavation in Calahantepe uncovered a T-shaped pillar with a human face, the first known depiction of a human face on such a pillar.
“The diversity of evidence obtained here brings us very close to prehistoric societies, from nutrition to architecture, from symbolic world to ritual,” said excavation leader Necmi Karul, who described the builders of the structures as skilled craftsmen.
Until recently, people thought settled life began with agriculture and livestock, he said. However, this project suggests that these people were still hunter-gatherers, but had become settled.
