Göbekli Tepe
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How it came to be
Göbekli Tepe crowns a hill near Şanlıurfa in south-eastern Türkiye. Between about 9600 and 8200 BC, hunter-gatherers who had not yet taken up farming built round and oval megalithic enclosures here. The site belongs to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and probably served for rituals, most likely funerary ones.
At the centre of the enclosures stand T-shaped pillars quarried from the adjacent limestone plateau. The tallest reach 5.5 metres and carry reliefs of human figures wearing belts and loincloths, along with wild animals. Four circular enclosures have been excavated so far, and geophysical surveys show at least 20 large enclosures in the mound.
A survey first recorded the site in 1963, but the pillar tops were mistaken for grave markers. Its importance was recognised in 1994 and excavation began in 1995. Recent work has also found smaller buildings that appear to be houses. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2018.
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