In the mid-1980s, a farmer in Şanlıurfa was working his field when he came across several stones, heavy, carved, and unfamiliar. He took them to a museum, where they were stored away, deemed unremarkable.
For years, they remained there. Until an archaeologist took a closer look and realized these forgotten stones pointed to something far greater and what emerged would transform our understanding of early human history.
With that realization, a hill was uncovered. And Göbeklitepe emerged. Göbeklitepe revealed monumental structures created by people more than 11,000 years ago, challenging long-held assumptions about when and how complex human societies began to form.
And nearby, another extraordinary site was waiting beneath the surface: Karahan Tepe.
Part of the broader Taş Tepeler region of southeastern Türkiye, Karahantepe is one of a group of Neolithic settlements offering new clues about the transition to settled life. Hundreds of stone pillars have been identified across the landscape, while excavations have revealed structures carved into bedrock, monumental sculpture, and objects rich with human and animal imagery.
What has been uncovered so far already challenges expectations. Sculptures with a level of detail not expected from this period: a human figure carrying a leopard, or stone vessels with carefully arranged animal figures. Each discovery raises new questions about the people who lived there. How did they organize themselves? What did they believe? Why did they create these monumental spaces? And what might the objects they left behind tell us about the beginnings of community, ritual, creativity, and shared human experience?
Much of Karahantepe remains unexplored.
But uncovering the site is only the beginning. Understanding what is found requires scientific analysis, specialized equipment, and researchers with the ability to study materials in depth. Archaeology does not end when an object comes out of the ground. In many ways, that is where the next stage of discovery begins.
Through a grant to TPF partner Karahantepe Araştırmalarını Destekleme Derneği (KADD), philanthropic resources helped establish a fully equipped Archaeometry Laboratory to support the analytical needs of the Karahantepe Research Project and other research conducted across the Taş Tepeler region.
The laboratory gives researchers greater capacity to examine what they uncover and turn individual findings into knowledge that can deepen our understanding of the people who lived here thousands of years ago.
Because at Karahantepe, much of the story is still beneath the surface. And every discovery has the potential to change how we understand where our own story began.