Culture and Information Counsellor’s Office the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye, The University of Warsaw and Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) will host an archaeology seminar and photo exhibition on April 19, 2023, at the University of Warsaw. The aim of this event is to give more attention to the recent archaeological excavations at Proto-Neolithic archaeological sites in the region of Şanlıurfa, producing evidence that the famous constructions at Göbeklitepe were not exceptional, but typical for the formative period of farming societies.
Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project known as “Taş Tepeler” involves comprehensive archaeological research at eight sites in south-eastern Turkiye: Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, Gürcütepe, Sayburç, Çakmaktepe, Harbetsuvan, Sefertepe and Yeni Mahalle. The sites are dated to the period when the humans started the settled way of life c. 12,000 years ago.
Settled way of life brings many new developments in social and technological aspects. The foundations of the social dynamics and economic developments that brought us to the present are laid in this period. The project reveals that the people of this period created magnificent architectural structures and reached a high level of art and advanced technology. Archaeologists believe that the monumental structures served as communal areas where people gathered together and practiced rituals to keep their traditions alive.
Project participants are certain that there are many sites similar to Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa, dated to the early phases of the Neolithic period. Therefore, new research will be initiated at the other sites in the region such as Ayanlar, Mendik, Yoğunburç, Kurttepesi and Taşlıtepe.
Karahantepe is a site with more than 250 T-shaped megalithic blocks similar to those at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbeklitepe. The latest finds from the Karahantepe are displayed in the exhibition “Karahantepe and Neolithic Humans” at the Archaeological Museum in Şanlıurfa. Archaeologists believe that findings from these sites will provide far-reaching insights into the people of prehistoric times and their daily lives and rituals.
The seminar on April 19, 2023 will take place from 11:00-13:00 at the University of Warsaw (The Columned Hall in the Faculty of History building – number 7 on the map), 26/28 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, Warsaw.
The program
11:00-11.15 Opening speeches
11:15-12.00 The Taş Tepeler project and new discoveries in Karahantepe
Prof. Necmi Karul
Director, Prehistoric Archeology, Istanbul University
12:00-12.45 Karahantepe and Çatalhöyük: Exploring some similarities
Prof. Arkadiusz Marciniak
Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
13:00-13:30 Opening of Karahantepe photo exhibition (Old Library)
13:30-14:00 Flying Buffet (Old Library – number 9 on the map)
Abstracts
Prof. Arkadiusz Marciniak
Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Karahantepe and Çatalhöyük. Exploring some similarities
The Euphrates Basin and the Konya Plain belong to the most important regions in the Near Eastern Neolithic. They reached their climax in two very different phases of its development, yet their significance for shaping Neolithic modalities is unprecedented. They were organized around large settlements: Karahantepe and Göbeklitepe in the Euphrates Basin and Çatalhöyük in the Konya Plain, which epitomizethe most pronounced features of respective stages in the development of the Neolithic. I intend to examine some striking similarities between these two regions and the ways in which they contributed to forming the Near Eastern Neolithic. These comprise: (i) large settlements as an embodiment of constituent elements of the Neolithic lifeways; (ii) their demise following the long-lasting developmentsas a mark of the swift depletion of the potential of respective areas; and (iii) their pivotal role in setting up the scene for further developments.
Prof. Necmi Karul
Prehistoric Archaeology, Istanbul University
Karahantepe: A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site in Şanlıurfa-Turkey
Discussions on sedentism, agriculture, and animal domestication have been current issues for over a century. The focus of most of the prehistoric studies in the Near East is on the subject defined as the Neolithization Process. Recent studies in Southeastern Anatolia have started to give detailed information about the beginning of this process. After the studies carried out in the Tigris Basin due to dam projects in the past decade, new studies in the Euphrates Basin with the Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project (Taş Tepeler), which started recently, reveal the diversity in the region well. Here, current data on the region will be discussed, and especially on the latest excavations in Karahantepe.
