Karahan Tepe

Karahantepe · Karahantepe Örenyeri

Being excavatedAccess disputed

The second great Taş Tepeler centre and the project’s busiest dig, with the most sculpture of any site: human statues, heads set in walls, and the first face on a T-pillar. Karul describes buildings with tiered benches as gathering places and claims the earliest stairs, windows and true corners.

On the live board

Check before you go – reports conflictchecked 18 Oct 2026

Call the Şanlıurfa Museum Directorate on +90 414 313 15 88 before you drive ~55 km.

Hours, tickets and status

Visiting

Access disputed

muze.gov.tr listed it ‘Kapalı’ (closed) on 18 Oct 2026; a forum post on 16 Oct 2026 says it is open with limited access during roof works; it was reported reopened on 5 Mar 2026 after a rain closure. Foreign-visitor entry is free on the current tariff.

Source: muze.gov.tr; Tripadvisor forum; Urfabir · checked 18 Oct 2026

Dating

c. 9400 BC to the 8000s BC, three phases (Karul, AA Nov 2025)

Phase: PPNA–PPNB

Source: AA 2025-11-26

Discovery

1997 (identified; published by Bahattin Çelik from 2000)

Source: tastepeler.org; Çelik (TTK)

Excavation

Being excavatedRecorded as: ongoing excavation

Istanbul University (Prof. Necmi Karul) – international team; 7th season in 2026

Key finds

  1. More than 250 T-shaped pillars

    AA 2026-07-16

  2. Pillar-filled Structure AD and the rock-cut ‘pool’ Structure AB with sculpted heads

    tastepeler.org

  3. 2.3 m seated human statue (2023)

    KTB 2023-09-30

  4. First T-pillar with a carved human face (2025)

    AA 2025-10-06

  5. Nested vessel with fox, vulture and boar figurines, the ‘earliest 3D narrative’ (2025)

    Reuters 2025-08-28

  6. Human seated on a leopard, 70 cm (2026)

    AA 2026-08-25

What the sources disagree on

District not given in the sources used; distance figures conflict (46/55/60 km).

Where

Not stated in sources used (Tek Tek Dağları National Park, east of Şanlıurfa)

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

Field Log · 19 entries

  1. Visitor updateDisputedKarahan Tepe status unclear: forum reports limited access during roof works
  2. Tickets & hoursNew foreign-visitor tariff published; it takes effect on 1 April 2027
  3. DiscoveryKarahan Tepe: 11,000-year-old statue of a person seated on a leopard
  4. PolicyPlan to turn Sayburç into an open-air museum and village museum
  5. ExcavationKarahan Tepe 2026 season: team plans to open a room sealed with stone slabs
  6. Visitor updateReportedKarahan Tepe reported reopened after a rain-damage closure
  7. Media & debateArchaeology Magazine names Karahan Tepe one of the top 10 discoveries of 2025
  8. DiscoveryTaş Tepeler 5th anniversary: 30 new finds shown, including a ‘stitched-mouth’ statue
  9. ExcavationKarahan Tepe: a 17 m building with tiered benches ‘like an odeon’
  10. DiscoveryFirst T-shaped pillar with a carved human face, found at Karahan Tepe
  11. DiscoveryKarahan Tepe: tiny fox, vulture and boar figures in a nested vessel, possibly the oldest 3D story
  12. Media & debateExcavators restate that Göbekli Tepe was not an observatory and Pillar 43 is not a star map
  13. DiscoveryReportedKarahan Tepe: running wild donkey carved into a hut’s stone floor
  14. Research paperDisputedSweatman paper claims Pillar 43’s V-symbols are a 365-day lunisolar calendar
  15. Media & debateExcavation head rejects ‘aliens’, ‘time portal’ and ‘observatory’ claims
  16. DiscoveryGöbekli Tepe’s painted wild boar and Karahan Tepe’s 2.3 m seated statue
  17. PolicyTaş Tepeler (Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project) launched
  18. ExcavationKarahan Tepe excavations begin; Istanbul University’s Necmi Karul takes over Göbekli Tepe
  19. DiscoveryKarahan Tepe identified in the Tek Tek Mountains

Open these in the Field Log

Sources · 7

  1. Karahantepe (site page)Taş Tepeler project site, T.C. Ministry of Culture and Tourism
  2. Karahantepe’de amfi tiyatroyu andıran Neolitik mimari yapı ortaya çıkarıldıAnadolu Agency · 26 Nov 2025
  3. Karahantepe’de ‘gizemli oda’da yeni keşif beklentisiAnadolu Agency · 16 Jul 2026
  4. Karahantepe’de 11 bin yıllık kompozit heykel bulunduAnadolu Agency · 25 Aug 2026
  5. Karahantepe Örenyerimuze.gov.tr (Ministry)
  6. Karahantepe yeniden ziyarete açıldıUrfabir Haber Ajansı (local) · 5 Mar 2026
  7. TAŞ TEPELER PROJECT – Important Visitor Update – Site Access (forum post)Tripadvisor Türkiye forum (user-generated) · 16 Oct 2026