11,000-Year-Old Carved Faces at Karahan Tepe Shed New Light on Neolithic Life

Ancient Faces and Figurines Reframe Early Neolithic Society

On the windswept hills above southeastern Turkey's plains, recent excavations at Karahan Tepe are revealing fresh, tangible traces of life from roughly 11,000–10,000 years ago. Archaeologists have unearthed a striking array of objects — including a stone figurine with stitched lips, several carved human faces, and a black serpentinite bead engraved with expressive faces on both sides — that illuminate belief systems, ritual practice and changing social life in the early Neolithic.

What the Finds Show

Researchers say the growing number of human sculptures and anthropomorphic motifs can be tied to the shift from mobile hunter‑gatherer groups to settled communities. "The growing number of human sculptures can be read as a direct outcome of settled life," said Necmi Karul, who leads the Karahan Tepe excavations, noting a human face carved on a T‑shaped pillar as a key example.

"As communities became more sedentary, people gradually distanced themselves from nature and placed the human figure and the human experience at the centre of the universe." — Necmi Karul

Project Context and Archaeological Work

These discoveries are part of Turkey's government‑backed "Stone Hills" project, launched in 2020 across 12 sites in Şanlıurfa Province. The initiative includes the UNESCO World Heritage site Göbekli Tepe — known in Turkish as "Potbelly Hill" — where Klaus Schmidt began excavations in 1995 and which contains some of the oldest known megalithic structures in Upper Mesopotamia.

Lee Clare of the German Archaeology Institute, who has worked at Göbekli Tepe since 2013, says the new material challenges older assumptions about the transition to settled life: "Every building we study gives us a small glimpse into someone's life. Every layer we excavate brings us closer to an individual — we can almost touch that person, through their bones. We're gaining insights into their belief systems." He adds that recent years have produced a considerably larger dataset from new nearby sites, enabling wider comparisons.

Social Change After the Ice Age

Archaeologists link the rise of permanent settlements to environmental changes after the last Ice Age. As conditions grew more fertile, communities could produce surplus food, which supported population growth and the establishment of permanent villages. "Once people produced surplus, they got rich and poor," Clare said, pointing to early signs of social differentiation and hierarchy.

Emre Guldogan, lead archaeologist at the nearby Sefer Tepe site, argues the Stone Hills discoveries reveal a highly organised, symbolically rich society rather than a uniformly "primitive" Neolithic world. He highlights local diversity: human symbolism is especially prominent at Karahan Tepe, while animal imagery is more dominant at Göbekli Tepe, suggesting distinct symbolic vocabularies across neighbouring communities.

Limits and Opportunities

Because these sites belong to prehistory, no written records survive. That limits definitive answers about who specific statues represented or the precise meanings of symbols. Still, as the number of finds grows and contexts are better documented, researchers can apply statistical methods and cross‑site comparisons to test hypotheses about belief systems, social roles and cultural variation.

Broader Impact

The new archaeological zones are also changing the region's visitor profile. Long known for biblical associations — including traditions linking the area to the figure of Abraham — Şanlıurfa now attracts a wider range of tourists, from specialists and cultural heritage visitors to general interest travelers, helping diversify local tourism beyond religious pilgrimage.

In short: Karahan Tepe and neighbouring Stone Hills sites are expanding our understanding of the early Neolithic, highlighting emerging social hierarchies, diverse symbolic worlds and the tangible consequences of life after the last Ice Age.