Karahan Tepe

Source: TH

Subject: Mapping

Context: Archaeologists in Türkiye have unearthed new carved human faces, including the first-ever human-faced T-shaped pillar, at the Neolithic site of Karahan Tepe, dating back 11,000 years.

About Karahan Tepe:

• What it is? Karahan Tepe is a major Pre-Pottery Neolithic archaeological site and one of the 12 settlements in Türkiye’s Taş Tepeler (Stone Hills) project, believed to be among the world’s earliest ritual-residential complexes.

• Karahan Tepe is a major Pre-Pottery Neolithic archaeological site and one of the 12 settlements in Türkiye’s Taş Tepeler (Stone Hills) project, believed to be among the world’s earliest ritual-residential complexes.

• Located in: Sanliurfa Province, southeastern Türkiye, near the Syrian border—close to the globally renowned Göbekli Tepe.

• Features:

• Dates from ~9400 to 8000 BCE; inhabited for ~1,500 years. Built on a limestone plateau between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Consists of residential structures, ritual enclosures, and T-shaped monoliths. Represents one of the earliest known symbolic and communal societies, predating widespread agriculture.

• Dates from ~9400 to 8000 BCE; inhabited for ~1,500 years.

• Built on a limestone plateau between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

• Consists of residential structures, ritual enclosures, and T-shaped monoliths.

• Represents one of the earliest known symbolic and communal societies, predating widespread agriculture.

• Major Discoveries:

• First human face carved on a T-shaped pillar, with deep-set eyes and angular features. Stone figurines including stitched-lip sculptures, expressive stone faces, and symbolic serpentinite beads. Anthropomorphic pillars with carved arms, hands, belts, fur garments. A 2.3-m tall male statue and multiple mythic-animal-human hybrid carvings. Evidence of a highly organised society with distinct symbolic and ritualistic practices.

• First human face carved on a T-shaped pillar, with deep-set eyes and angular features.

• Stone figurines including stitched-lip sculptures, expressive stone faces, and symbolic serpentinite beads.

• Anthropomorphic pillars with carved arms, hands, belts, fur garments.

• A 2.3-m tall male statue and multiple mythic-animal-human hybrid carvings.

• Evidence of a highly organised society with distinct symbolic and ritualistic practices.