SANLIURFA, Turkey: Turkey on Wednesday presented dozens of new discoveries from a major archaeological zone in the country’s southeast, adding further detail to an area believed to illustrate humanity’s shift from hunter-gatherer groups to settled communities more than 11,000 years ago.
Situated on a plateau overlooking fertile plains often described as the “cradle of civilisation”, the UNESCO-listed site of Gobeklitepe along with nearby Karahantepe continues to reshape archaeologists’ understanding of the prehistoric era.
Among the latest findings in Sanliurfa province is a statue whose facial expression resembles that of a deceased person. Archaeologists described it as a unique example linked to death rituals and symbolic behaviour among Neolithic peoples.
It is one of roughly 30 artefacts showcased on Wednesday, including statues of humans and animals, figurines, plates, vessels, necklaces, beads and a bead shaped like a human figure.
“What makes these archaeological sites unique is the way they reshape our knowledge of Neolithic history, as well as the transition to settled life,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told Reuters.
He said the sites which Turkey refers to as the Stone Mounds project demonstrate that early humans possessed a much more advanced understanding of belief, ritual, social organisation and cultural production than previously believed.
Ersoy added that Gobeklitepe is expected to draw about 800,000 visitors this year, showing the site’s growing global significance.
The ministry’s project includes 12 Neolithic settlements in Sanliurfa dating back to 9,500 BC. Gobeklitepe and Karahantepe contain some of the world’s earliest known structures designed for communal gatherings and ritual activities.
Among the most notable features are large oval structures measuring up to 28 metres across, encircled by T-shaped limestone pillars thought to represent humans, many carved with images of animals.
Archaeologists reported that a recent dig at Karahantepe uncovered a T-shaped pillar featuring a human face the first known example of such a depiction on this type of pillar.
“From nutrition to architecture, from the symbolic world to the rituals, the vast diversity of evidence obtained here bring us incredibly close to prehistoric societies,” said Necmi Karul, the excavation director, who described the builders as highly skilled craftsmen.
Karul said that earlier assumptions held that settled life began only with agriculture and livestock rearing, but the project’s findings indicate these communities were still hunter-gatherers even after becoming settled.
