KARAHAN TEPE
Karahan Tepe still remains a mystery It seems that it is not a settlement and only animal and male figures are there, were they there for rituals?
East of the Harran Plain, is a site that changes everything we thought we knew about prehistoric civilizations. Karahan Tepe (or Keçili Tepe, as it’s locally known) lies just 46 km southeast of Göbekli Tepe, a site believed to be the world’s very first temple. But archaeologists now suspect that Karahan Tepe, built by the same mysterious civilization, is even older.
At the time of writing in 2020, Karahan Tepe is the site of ongoing archaeological excavations and not yet an officially sanctioned tourist attraction. But for the past few years, visitors have been free to show up and explore (learn more below).
Before reading about Karahan Tepe, be sure to first familiarize yourself with Göbekli Tepe, which can learn more about here. As we don’t yet have an official name for the lost civilization that built these sites, I’ll be referring to them as the ‘T-Builders’ after their trademark T-shaped pillars.
As evidenced by recent videos, the archaeological team has made tremendous progress in the past year. Over 250 obelisks have been uncovered in addition to various sculptures. Furthermore, a fascinating on-site carving clearly depicts a human face.
Realizing the growing buzz surrounding Karahan Tepe, tourism authorities are already hoping to open a visitor center there by 2022.
What’s more, is that Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe are now considered to be just two sites within a wider region called Taş Tepeler. In total, the area is home to at least 12 similar sites that may have all been built by the same Neolithic civilization.
Clearly, this is a very exciting time for both archaeology and tourism in Turkey!
Karahan Tepe is believed to be considerably larger than Göbekli Tepe, covering an area of over 13 hectares, or about 33 acres. And the whole site was centered around a hill, which is approximately 490 meters long by 270 meters wide.
Unlike Göbekli Tepe, which once appeared as a hill but turned out to be a manmade mound, this hill is natural. Its top and western faces largely consist of a limestone outcrop from which the T-Builders quarried stone.
They then took the stone over to the northern and eastern sides, where they built temples and possibly even more.
Karahantepe or Karahan Tepe is an archaeological site located in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Karahantepe, 46 km from the city center, was discovered in 1997. The first excavations began in September 2019 in the area where 250 obelisks are thought to be from the Neolithic period.
One of the most important features of Karahan Tepe is the 'stone rows' at the northern end of the hill. One of the rows sits in front of a large, flat surface made of flattened limestone. As seen at Göbekli Tepe, T-Builders had the ability to level natural bedrock as well as make plaster and artificial terrazzo floors. By the way, there is something on the side that looks like some kind of pit.
Karahan Tepe can be described as the sister site of the more widely known Pre-Pottery Neolithic sanctuary of Göbekli Tepe. Both are located in a mountainous landscape in southeastern Anatolia (present-day Turkish Republic), just a short distance from the ancient cities of Şanlıurfa and Harran. Both feature the arrangement of T-shaped stone pillars that are anthropomorphic in nature and bear high relief or 3D carvings. Both were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period and later abandoned. However, while Göbekli Tepe has been excavated under the auspices of the German Archaeological Institute in partnership with the Şanlıurfa Archaeological Museum since 1995, it has attracted widespread attention, while Karahan Tepe remains relatively obscure. Prof. from Harran University Archeology Department. Dr. Bahattin Çelik was the first person to notice the existence of Karahan Tepe after the first research on the hill in 1997. His team conducted two studies, the first of which was in 2000 (Çelik, 2000). , the second in 2011 within the scope of Şanlıurfa Provincial Culture Inventory (Çelik, 2011). The present author first visited the site in 2004 under the responsibility of the Mayor of Diyarbakır and returned in 2014 to examine its possible function and direction.
Stone Pillars
The first thing the visitor notices when ascending the hill's northern slope are the partially exposed heads of stone pillars that emerge into view from beneath a hard deposit of soil that hides their stems (and sometimes most of their heads). These sunken pillars climb toward the summit of the tepe for a distance of approximately 50 metres (164 feet), forming what appears to be a stone avenue. Its roughly north-northeast to south-southwesterly orientation matches not only that of the hill, but also that of the stones themselves. Two further pillars at the northern base of the avenue are turned 90º and so perhaps formed an entranceway (like the U-shaped gateway leading into the dromos feature forming part of Göbekli Tepe's Enclosure C). At least three other stones nearby have the same alignment, complicating any interpretation of the layout, and suggesting that the base of the avenue might have included a built structure.
