A recent discovery at Turkey’s famous Göbekli Tepe is offering new clues about the enigmatic ancient site’s purpose.
Often characterized as “the world’s first temple,” the site, first excavated in the mid 1990s by German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, has long been viewed as a ritual location used for gatherings by its ancient builders more than 11,000 years ago.
However, mounting discoveries in recent years have challenged that interpretation. Areas that may have been used for the storage of grain suggest that Göbekli Tepe might also have been used as a dwelling place, rather than just a large community space intended primarily for special gatherings.
Now, in a new study published in PLOS One, archaeologists Lee Clare and Julia Gresky report the first confirmed discovery of human burials at Göbekli Tepe, lending new support to the emerging picture of the ancient temple as a site that was also used for habitation.
An 11,600-Year-Old Enigma
Situated on the side of a mountainous area in southeastern Turkey, Göbekli Tepe is famous for being among the world’s oldest ceremonial sites, and features a series of iconic monumental carved stone structures adorned with intricate artistic motifs.
The site underwent several periods of construction between roughly 9,600 and 8,200 BCE, during which older portions were intentionally buried, and newer stone circles were erected on top of them. Over thousands of years, the successive burial of stone structures within the site’s layers gave rise to its hill-like appearance, from which the site gets its unique name, which translates to “pot-bellied hill.”
Despite many decades of excavation and investigation at the site, no intact human burials had been discovered at Göbekli Tepe, although heavily fragmented human bones had been found among debris filling some of the site’s large structures. The scattered human remains led some archaeologists to interpret the site as a possible center for what has been characterized as a “skull cult,” although there is no direct evidence suggesting human sacrifices had taken place there.
Confirmed Human Burials at Göbekli Tepe
Now, according to the new findings detailed by Clare and Gresky in their study published in PLOS One, a pair of intact burials at the site have been uncovered, dating to approximately 8,700–8,000 BCE.
One of the burials contained the remains of an adult woman, a young man, and an adolescent girl, all buried together in a single pit. The second grave contained the remains of a single individual, believed to be a middle-aged woman positioned on her side with her body curled inward.
Archaeologists believe these discoveries could help to shed light on the mysterious scattered human remains found during past excavations at Göbekli Tepe. According to Clare and Gresky, fragmented human remains uncovered at the site in the past may have been redeposited there due to natural processes such as erosion or landslides, which moved them from their original context.
Compared with the scattered remains uncovered from past excavations, the newly discovered burials feature similarly fractured bones, coated in thick calcium deposits and showing signs of possible scavenging by rodents—all consistent with past discoveries of fragmented human remains at the site.
Overall, the discoveries strengthen the growing evidence that Göbekli Tepe was more than a ceremonial gathering place for people in ancient Anatolia, but may have instead been a permanent settlement where they lived and, evidently, also died and were buried.
The study, “First burials give insights into mortuary rites at Göbeklitepe, Early Neolithic Türkiye,” appeared in PLOS One on September 22, 2026.
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.