Karahantepe: A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site in Şanlıurfa-Turkey

UCPH School of Archaeology invites you to a public talk by Professor Necmi Karul, Istanbul University, followed by a discussion. 

Abstract

Discussions on sedentism, agriculture, and animal domestication have been current issues for over a century. Most prehistoric studies in the Near East on the subject are defined as the Neolithization Process. Recent studies in Southeastern Anatolia have started to give detailed information about the beginning of this process. After the studies carried out in the Tigris Basin due to dam projects in the past decade, new studies in the Euphrates Basin with the Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project (Taş Tepeler), which started recently, reveal the diversity in the region well. Here, current data on the region will be discussed, especially on the latest excavations in Karahantepe.

Taş Tepeler Project

Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project, known as "Taş Tepeler”, involves comprehensive archaeological research in 12 sites in southeastern Türkiye including Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, Gürcütepe, Sayburç, Çakmaktepe, Harbetsuvan, Sefertepe and the Yeni Mahalle. The sites date to the period when humans transformed into settled life 12,000 years ago.

Settled life brings many new developments in social and technological aspects. The foundations of the social dynamics and economic developments that brought us to the present are laid in this period. The researchers in the project reveal that the people of the period created magnificent structures and a high level of art and advanced technology in the transition to this new way of life. Archaeologists believe that the monumental structures in the area served as communal areas where people gathered and practised rituals to keep their traditions alive.

Project participants are certain that many sites similar to Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa reflect the early phases of the Neolithic period. Therefore, new research will be initiated at other sites in the region, such as Ayanlar, Mendik, Yoğunburç, Kurttepesi and Taşlıtepe within the scope of the project.

Karahantepe has more than 250 T-shaped megalithic blocks similar to those at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbeklitepe.  The latest finds from the Karahantepe are displayed in the exhibition "Karahantepe and Neolithic Human" at the Archaeological Museum in Şanlıurfa. Archaeologists believe that findings from these sites will provide far-reaching insights into the people of prehistoric times and their daily lives and rituals.

Professor Dr Necmi Karul

Having received his BA and MA degrees from the Department of Prehistory at Istanbul University, Karul received a DAAD scholarship and completed his PhD at Berlin Freie University in 2000. After completing his doctorate, he became the archaeology editor of Atlas Magazine. He started to work as an assistant in the Prehistory Department in 2002.

He became Associate Professor in 2006 and Professor in 2017. Having received a research scholarship from Harvard University in 2005, Karul served as a Member of the Editorial Board of the Turkish Academy of Sciences Journal of Archaeology (TUBA-AR) between 2009-2012 and 2019-. Karul, who was a member of the Editorial Board at EJA (Journal of European Archeology) between the years 2013-2016, continues his role at the Editorial Board of Colloquium Anatolicum and Studia Praehistorica, Journal of Turkish Institute of Prehistoric Sciences and serves as the Archaeology Editor of Magma Magazine since 2014.

He is also a member of the German Archaeological Institute, and the Austrian Archaeological Institute, as well as a correspondent member of the Turkish Archaeological Institute and a member of the National Committee of ICOMOS Türkiye. Karul was President of the Istanbul Branch of the Association of Archaeologists from 2007 to 2015. Karul, who has taken part in prehistoric excavations and surveys in different parts of Anatolia since 1989, has been the scientific advisor to the excavations of Bursa Aktopraklık Höyük since 2004 and Siirt Gusir Höyük excavations since 2010. Since 2016, Necmi Karul has been managing the Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe Research Project and is a coordinator of the Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project.