Posted on 09/24/2025 12:02:38 PM PDT by Red Badger
Archaeologists are excavating an ancient Neolithic site in Turkey that is believed to represent one of the earliest found in the region, potentially even predating the famous site of Göbekli Tepe.
The new site, dubbed Mendik Tepe, was discovered in the Eyyübiye area in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, and offers archaeologists an unprecedented look at the early human activities in the region, contrasting in many ways with its famous nearby counterpart, now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Excavations are currently being led by Professor Douglas Baird of the University of Liverpool, supported by the British Institute of Archaeology and the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum. Presently, Baird and the team have unearthed the remains of several buildings, which range in purpose from the likely storage of food to dwelling places.
Larger structural remains at the site have also been uncovered, which may have had ritual significance similar to the famous pillar-lined structures found at Göbekli Tepe, offering archaeologists a deeper look at the architecture and practices of Neolithic-era Anatolia, potentially extending the timeframe of the earliest human activity in the area.
Older Than the Oldest?
Following excavations led by Professor Klaus Schmidt in the 1990s, Göbekli Tepe reframed the debate over early human habitation and cultural practices with its precocious incorporation of sophisticated bas-relief art and monumental structural design.
The discovery fundamentally reshaped archaeologists’ understanding of not just early human settlement in the region, but also the early use of such technologies whose apparent ritual implementation at the site predate the use of pottery, and even agriculture in the area.
Along similar lines, Mendik Tepe dates back to the early part of the Neolithic period and provides additional evidence of the early transition of humans from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one that relied on permanent settlements. The site was initially discovered by archaeologist Fatma Şahin, who has led excavations and research at another Turkish archaeological site nearby called Çakmak Tepe.
Somewhat in contrast to discoveries at Göbekli Tepe, Baird and the team say the new site of Mendik Tepe may show signs of early agricultural practices, which he and the excavation team are currently investigating.
Such discoveries, along with the architecture already being unearthed at the site, would be significant since they are believed to be at least 10,000 years old, but could potentially even predate the construction of Göbekli Tepe, dated to approximately 12,000 years ago, as well as other enigmatic archaeological sites nearby like Karahan Tepe.
Early Revelations at Mendik Tepe With excavations having launched last year, Baird’s investigations at Mendik Tepe are still in their relatively early stages, although the initial efforts have revealed several buildings of varying sizes, which the research team is studying to understand their possible uses and reasons for their varying size.
Notably, although some of the structures unearthed at Mendik Tepe do include pillars, the iconic use of monumental architecture seen at Gobekli Tepe and its massive stone “T-shaped” pillars are absent at new site. Such differences may suggest that the builders of Mendik Tepe possessed a different ideology from the builders of Göbekli Tepe, or at least that it was constructed for different purposes in mind than its more famous counterpart.
Excavations at the site currently remain active under the Archaeological Institute of America’s Institute for Field Research and the University of Liverpool, with field school opportunities for students also available.
PinGGG!....................
There is a lot of building all around the middle east in the 10,000 years prior to the younger dryas.
How can we get western nations and Asia to start using the classical term Anatolia and quit calling it “Turkey”.
Of all the peoples in the area the Turks are the most late comers of all; all other peoples in the region, including the Kurds, predate the Turks by centuries, some by millennium.
You Hittite the nail right on the head, but it’s really an Asia Minor detail.................
Come on. Everyone likes turkey. 🦃
Don’t be an Ottomaniac.
Mind your own Byzantine................😁
Perhaps we should be called Clovis People, since they were here first. < /sarcasm>
Quit digging and guessing. Just ask Keith Richards.
I was not so much referring to the people, as the land, as the term began in use for the area (by the Greeks) as far back as the 1st millennium B.C. The Turks themselves referred to the area as Anadolu, which was their transliteration of the Greek word Anatole.
America was not named after us, as a people. It first came into use in 1507 by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller on a world map to honor Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It was further adopted by European explorers like Columbus and others like him. As it is a word for a place, not a particular people, it now refers to people “Americans” as those settled in that place - America. You could simply say the Clovis people were among the earliest Americans (people who live or lived in the area now known as America). Though I imagine if we had any writing from the Clovis people, they had there own name for the lands where they lived.
The survivors get to name the place. The dead ones are of little consequence.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Comment of the day winner.
I don’t know why, but when I think of the Clovis People, images of ‘Cliff Clavin” from Cheers comes to mind. lol.
I clearly see a connection there. ;-D
Perhaps we should be called Clovis People, since they were here first.
—
They were not the first, just the first ones that fit into mainstream archeology’s ideology.
Anyone who digs below the Clovis Level and publishes any human habitation found has their career ruined. At least 3 people in the profession have suffered that fate and are in another profession.
Are you referring to Keith Richards of the Strolling Bones?
You know it. 😎
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