Location
Göbeklitepe is an early Neolithic site (ca. 9.600-7.750 cal. BCE) located some 15 kilometres northeast of the modern town of Şanlıurfa in Southeast Türkiye. The prehistoric tell covers an area of nine hectares and lies on a peak of the Germuş mountain range, approximately 770 metres above sea-level. It has commanding views over the Harran plain to the south, with the Eastern Taurus range visible to the north.
Research History
Göbeklitepe was first noted as an archaeological site during a field survey undertaken in the region in the 1960s by the Universities of İstanbul and Chicago. Remarkable amounts of flint-artefacts spread across the surface of the mound indicated that this was the location of a significant site from the Neolithic period. However, the prehistoric architecture, including the special buildings with their magnificent T-shaped limestone pillars, was not discovered until first excavations led by Harald Hauptmann and Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute, in close cooperation with the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum. These excavations These excavations, started in 1995, were continued by Schmidt until 2014.
In 2014, the excavation directorship passed to the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, and in 2019 to Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul from Istanbul University Department of Prehistoric Archaeology. Since autumn 2014, Dr. Lee Clare has held the position of field and research director for the German Archaeological Institute. After the completion of the two permanent protective shelters at Göbeklitepe in 2017, the site was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2018. In 2019, Göbeklitepe saw a massive increase in public interest during the official “Göbeklitepe Year” of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, and in 2020, together with Karahantepe, it became one of the focal points of the new Taş Tepeler project.
Archaeological Research
Until recent years, research focused primarily on the monumental buildings and their T-shaped pillars. This resulted in interpretations of Göbeklitepe as a purely ritual site. However, in the last years, our research has shifted increasingly to the buildings without T-pillars which are the most numerous at the site. These structures are meanwhile interpreted as houses. It has become increasingly evident that people were living at Göbeklitepe throughout its 1.750-year existence and that the site was comparable to other settlements from the early Neolithic known from Upper Mesopotamia.
Team and Sponsors
Scientific research at Göbeklitepe is an integral part of the interdisciplinary long-term project “The Prehistoric Societies of Upper Mesopotamia and their Subsistence” funded by the German Research Foundation. This project addresses early monumental architecture, the origins of food production and subsistence strategies, social hierarchisation and prehistoric belief systems. It brings together researchers from the German Archaeological Institute, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Munich) and the Freie Universität (Berlin), and their numerous cooperation partners. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Fieldwork at Göbeklitepe is conducted by the Orient and Istanbul Departments of the DAI, cooperation with the University of Istanbul and Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum with the permission and support of the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2021 the sites are component of the Taş Tepeler project. Text: Lee Clare and Jonas Breuers Photos: Kinzel Kinzel and Benny Waszk
Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Istanbul University
German Archaeological Institute
German Research Foundation
Şanlıurfa Archaeological Museum
Governorship of Şanlıurfa
Şanlıurfa Municipality
Haliliye Municipality
Doğuş Group
