Çakmak Tepe

Çakmaktepe

Being excavatedNot open to visitors

One of the oldest Taş Tepeler sites, apparently earlier than most of Göbekli Tepe. A dense village of small round houses sits around a large communal building. It is a key site for the very start of settled life.

Visiting

Not open to visitors

Excavation site.

Source: tastepeler.org · checked 19 Oct 2026

Dating

c. 10,000–9500 BC (El-Khiam points)

Phase: earliest PPNA

Source: tastepeler.org

Discovery

2021, from satellite imagery (ŞAYA survey)

Source: tastepeler.org

Excavation

Being excavatedRecorded as: ongoing excavation

Çukurova University (Dr. Fatma Şahin) with the Şanlıurfa Museum; University of Tsukuba (Yutaka Miyake) since 2022

Key finds

  1. Round, sunken-floor houses cut into bedrock with mortar hollows; an early form of terrazzo flooring

    tastepeler.org

  2. 16 m round communal building that was deliberately filled

    tastepeler.org

Where

Eyyübiye

District level only. We don’t publish coordinates or directions to excavation and survey sites.

Field Log · 2 entries

  1. DiscoveryÇakmaktepe found on satellite images and excavated the same year
  2. PolicyTaş Tepeler (Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project) launched

Open these in the Field Log

Sources · 2

  1. Çakmaktepe (site page, text by F. Şahin & Y. Miyake)Taş Tepeler project site, T.C. Ministry of Culture and Tourism
  2. Mendik Tepe, believed to predate Gobeklitepe, being unearthed in southeastern TürkiyeAnadolu Agency (English) · 28 Aug 2025