New finds in Turkey’s southeast add to picture of Neolithic age
By Ceyda Çağlayan
SANLIURFA, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey unearthed dozens of new finds at a large archaeological site in southeastern Türkiye on Wednesday, providing new insight into a site thought to show humanity’s transition from hunter-gatherers to settled societies more than 11,000 years ago.
Located on a plateau overlooking the fertile plains of the region often called the “cradle of civilization”, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Göbeklitepe and nearby Karahantepe are changing archaeologists’ understanding of prehistoric times.
Among the latest finds found in Şanlıurfa is a statue with a facial expression reminiscent of a deceased person. Archaeologists said this was a unique discovery in terms of death rituals and symbolic expressions among Neolithic communities.
It was one of about 30 artifacts unearthed Wednesday, including human and animal statues, figurines, vessels, plates, necklaces and beads, including one shaped like a human.
“What makes these archaeological sites unique is that they reshape our knowledge about Neolithic history and the transition to settled life,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told Reuters.
He said that these areas, which Türkiye calls the Stone Mounds project, show that humanity has a much higher level of consciousness in terms of belief, rituals, social organization and cultural production than expected.
Stating that Göbeklitepe is expected to attract approximately 800,000 visitors this year, he shows that the importance of this region is increasingly understood.
The project, led by the Ministry, is located in Şanlıurfa, B.C. It covers 12 Neolithic sites with settled communities dating back to 9,500 BC; Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe contain the world’s oldest structures used for gathering and performance rituals.
Among the most striking features in the area are oval-shaped monumental structures up to 28 meters in diameter, surrounded by T-shaped limestone columns that are considered to represent people, some of which have animal reliefs depicted on them.
Archaeologists say that in a recent excavation in Karahantepe, a T-shaped column with a human face was unearthed. This column represents the first known depiction of a human face on such a column.
Describing the builders of the structures as skilled craftsmen, excavation leader Necmi Karul said, “The wide variety of evidence obtained here, from nutrition to architecture, from the symbolic world to rituals, brings us incredibly close to prehistoric societies.”
He said that until recently, it was assumed that settled life began with agriculture and animal husbandry, but the project showed that these people were still hunter-gatherers but had switched to settled life.
(Written by Ceyda Çağlayan; Edited by Daren Butler and Alison Williams)
