Karahan Tepe · Şanlıurfa, Türkiye
Descend into chambers carved 11,000 years ago — and into the biggest question in the human story. This is the living archive of Karahan Tepe, tracking every discovery as it comes to light.
What Is Karahan Tepe?
In the hills outside Şanlıurfa, Karahan Tepe is the sister site of Göbekli Tepe — a complex of T-shaped pillars, carved human figures, and chambers cut directly into the living rock, made by some of the last hunter-gatherer communities of the region.
Every excavation season turns up something that reshapes how we understand it. We gather it all here, as it happens, and follow where the evidence leads.
The Archive
New excavation places Ayanlar Höyük firmly within the same Neolithic world — part of a growing pattern of interconnected settlements.
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"Building Community: Göbeklitepe, Taş Tepeler and Life 12,000 Years Ago" opens in Berlin, reframing the region's monument-builders with original artifacts.
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A platform of carved human faces and a double-faced bead widen the symbolic world shared across Karahan Tepe and the Stone Hills.
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A small rock-cut stone staircase, 11,000 years old, is reshaping how we think about the earliest architecture on Earth.
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A figure of the dead with a deliberately stitched mouth links Sayburç to the wider symbolic network of the region.
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A second statue emerges in the same pose as the first — the pattern behind these carvings is harder to dismiss.
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More than 30 Neolithic homes — hearths, grinding stones, and standing stones inside them. The discovery that turns the sanctuary into a village.
Read More →For the first time, archaeologists uncover a T-shaped pillar bearing a human face — never seen before at the site.
Read More →Small-Group Expeditions
Our annual Göbekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe expedition returns September 13–23, 2026 — a ten-day journey through the Taş Tepeler region alongside Harran, Mount Nemrut, Cappadocia, and Hattusa, built for people who want real historical context, not general tourism.
See the 2026 Itinerary →Free E-Book
Join the archive and receive our free, fully illustrated field guide — the evidence-led introduction to one of the world's oldest sanctuaries — plus updates whenever new discoveries emerge from Karahan Tepe and the wider Taş Tepeler region.
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