Few archaeological sites capture the imagination quite like Turkey’s famous Göbekli Tepe, a site whose discovery upended past thinking on the timeline for humanity’s development of monumental construction, complex art and symbolism, and other early innovations in the ancient world.
While the enigmatic Göbekli Tepe still gets much of the attention when it comes to Anatolia’s deep prehistory, it is not alone. Near Turkey’s most famous archaeological site is an equally remarkable pre-pottery Neolithic wonder: the Karahan Tepe site in Şanlıurfa.
Possessing similar monumental stelae resembling the iconic “T-shape” of those found at Göbekli Tepe, dating from Karahan Tepe reveals evidence of structures that predate the construction of those at its famous sister site, which have prompted some archaeologists to characterize Karahan Tepe as the remains of what could be the first human village known to exist anywhere in the world.
With its construction believed to have begun at least several centuries before Göbekli Tepe, archaeological investigations at Karahan Tepe focus on recovering details about the life of its ancient inhabitants. Ongoing discoveries there over the last half-decade have offered an unprecedented look at how a group of early humans, now widely credited with inventing the earliest known community center, survived in the world of post-Ice Age Anatolia.
Now, among the latest findings at Göbekli Tepe’s enigmatic archaeological sister site, a significant clue to how these ancient Neolithic innovators once thrived has been revealed.
Keys to Ancient Survival at Karahan Tepe
According to recent lab analysis of materials recovered from Karahan Tepe, archaeologists have uncovered new clues to one of the most important aspects of the site’s ancient inhabitants’ lives: their diet.
The new findings indicate that the builders of the world’s earliest monumental community thrived on a menu consisting primarily of the region’s wild gazelle and legumes. The recent studies, led by researchers with the Taş Tepeler Project, reveal a not-so-surprising key finding: that these ancient Neolithic architects and community organizers relied on a diet that would have provided the kind of protein required to power the large stone structural development for which history now recognizes them.
In addition to their architectural contributions, Karahan Tepe’s ancient inhabitants were known for their intricate carvings and other art, featuring likenesses of humans and animals, as well as a range of symbols and motifs that may have held ritual significance.
A Monumental Dietary Staple
According to the Taş Tepeler Project team, recent lab analysis confirmed gazelle had likely been the primary source of meat for both Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe. Significantly, the recent studies undertaken by the Taş Tepeler Project have revealed that the dietary imprint left at Karahan Tepe was more focused and distinctive than that recovered at its sister site, suggesting a broader mix of animals from varied ecological zones.
The reliance on gazelle and legumes by the inhabitants of Karahan Tepe appears to support a more specialized subsistence strategy, despite the site’s older age.
The focus on legumes had also been largely overlooked in past studies, partly because of the expectation that evidence of grain consumption would be found. By contrast, the prominence of legumes at the site suggests that these ancient Anatolians had a more nuanced understanding of plant harvesting and use in the Neolithic world.
The Karahan Tepe Enigma
Featuring more than 250 of its characteristic T-shaped standing stones and spanning roughly 12 hectares, Karahan Tepe offers a vivid glimpse into the symbolic world of its builders, much like the features that made its sister site, Göbekli Tepe, famous.
Excavations have been underway at Karahan Tepe for 7 years, although much of the site remains unexplored, with many deeper layers known to exist from past remote sensing surveys.
Researchers like Karul are hopeful that future investigations at the site will add new layers to archaeologists’ understanding of the ancient settlement’s deeper history—all of which could help to explain the lingering questions about how early humans first came together and began forming communities.
Compared to contemporaneous archaeological discoveries from other parts of the world, nothing comparable to Karahan Tepe or Göbekli Tepe has ever been found, especially in terms of the scale of construction, the depth of artistry, or the level of organization seen at these sites, setting them apart from anything known from the ancient post-Ice Age world.
Additional studies include the ongoing efforts of the Taş Tepeler Ecology Project, which are also helping expand research in the region by placing these enigmatic Anatolian sites in their environmental context and analyzing the geological and other components that supported the practices of these early communities.
While their discovery alone has helped reshape our understanding of Neolithic societies in recent years, the recent evidence from Karahan Tepe broadens our knowledge of its ancient inhabitants by showing not only how they lived, but also what they ate and how this helped them assemble some of the world’s earliest known communities.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.