Image Credit: Vincent Vega, via Wikimedia Commons

New Neolithic Discoveries Transform Early History in Turkey

Turkey has announced a new wave of discoveries from the world-famous Neolithic sites of Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe in Şanlıurfa, offering fresh clues about humanity’s shift from mobile hunter-gatherers to the earliest settled communities more than 11,000 years ago.
Unveiled on Wednesday, the latest finds include nearly 30 artifacts: human and animal statues, figurines, vessels, beads, necklaces, and a particularly striking human-shaped bead. Among them is a remarkable statue showing a facial expression thought to represent a deceased individual — a unique example that sheds new light on early symbolic behavior and death rituals.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said these sites—part of the broader "Stone Mounds Project," which includes 12 Neolithic settlements dating back to 9,500 BC—are reshaping our understanding of early human consciousness, ritual practices, and social organization.
Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe contain the world’s oldest known monumental gathering structures, some reaching 28 meters in diameter and encircled by T-shaped limestone pillars carved with animal reliefs. One recent excavation revealed the first known human face carved onto a T-shaped pillar, a major milestone in Neolithic art.
Excavation head Necmi Karul noted that the new evidence challenges traditional assumptions that settled life began only after agriculture and animal husbandry. Instead, these communities appear to have been hunter-gatherers who established permanent sites, built sophisticated ritual spaces, and produced a rich symbolic culture long before farming emerged.
With Göbeklitepe expected to attract around 800,000 visitors this year, the discoveries continue to highlight the global importance of Şanlıurfa’s early human heritage.

Published on: 27-11-2025

Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie

Source: Reuters