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An amphitheater-like Neolithic structure has been uncovered at Karahantepe in southeastern Turkey
Under the sharp light of the Şanlıurfa plateau, archaeologists at Karahantepe have revealed a structure unlike anything previously documented in the early Neolithic world: a circular, amphitheater-like gathering space carved directly into bedrock, lined with tiers of stone benches and flanked by human heads sculpted into its walls. The discovery pushes the boundaries of what…
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Traces of a 5,000-year-old earthquake have been uncovered beneath Çayönü, one of the oldest agricultural settlements in southeastern Turkey
Beneath the rolling plains of southeastern Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered traces of a devastating earthquake that struck some 5,000 years ago, toppling a rectangular mudbrick structure at Çayönü, one of the earliest agricultural communities in human history. The discovery offers rare evidence of prehistoric seismic activity in the heart of ancient Upper Mesopotamia — and…
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Karahantepe May Reveal Göbeklitepe Was Never Just a Temple
In the barren hills of southeastern Turkey, Karahantepe is quietly rewriting what we thought we knew about humanity’s earliest monuments.For decades, Göbeklitepe stood as an enigma — a site of stone circles and sacred carvings often described as the world’s first temple.Now, new evidence from Karahantepe suggests a more complex story: these were not places…
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The World’s Oldest Architectural Model Now on Display at Diyarbakır Museum
A discovery that sheds light on human history: a 12,000-year-old house model unearthed in Çayönü Hill is now exhibited at the Diyarbakır Museum. Located in Turkey’s southeastern Ergani district of Diyarbakır, the Çayönü archaeological site is one of the earliest known settlements from the Neolithic Period. In recent excavations, archaeologists uncovered what is considered to…