A newly-excavated settlement in the network of deeply ancient megalithic sites that span Türkiye’s southeastern landscape may prove to be even older than its more famous sister site of Göbekli Tepe, potentially pushing the genesis of human civilization to a date even earlier than what modern archaeology had previously assumed.

Found near Payamlı, a village 33 kilometers (21 miles) southwest of Göbekli Tepe in Türkiye’s Eyyübiye district, this newly-excavated site, Mendik Tepe, joins the nearly two dozen known locations that make up the Taş Tepeler (‘Stone Mounds’) network of archaeological sites that date back to the beginning of the Neolithic period nearly 12,000 years ago. 

Dating efforts conducted thus far indicate that Mendik Tepe is similar in age to the nearby Çakmak Tepe site; although these dates have yet to be confirmed, if accurate they would indicate that human civilization had a foothold in history even earlier than Göbekli Tepe’s founding of around 9,600 BCE.

“The finds suggest Mendik Tepe belongs to the very beginnings of the Neolithic,” explained University of Liverpool professor of archaeology Douglas Baird, who has been directing the excavation. “While connected to Göbekli Tepe and Karahantepe, its structures show unique forms and may even predate them.”

Mendik Tepe has four-to-five-meter (13-to-16-foot) circular structures that appear to have been used as communal dwellings; smaller structures appear to have been used for food storage; and larger structures that appear to have been for ceremonial use incorporated meticulous stonework in their construction.

Mendik Tepe’s assembly as a cohesive community stands in contrast to Göbekli Tepe, of which appears to have been reserved solely for ceremonial use. And while Mendik Tepe features rectangular pillars carved in a manner similar to the ones found at its more elaborate sister sites, these pillars are smaller and lack the distinctive T-shaped tops that crown the stones at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe.

“Unlike Göbekli Tepe and Karahantepe, where monumental T-shaped pillars dominate, Mendik Tepe has upright stones of different forms, marking it as a unique settlement,” Baird remarked.

“These excavations will help us understand not only the development of the Taş Tepeler network but also how the Neolithic era itself began and progressed,” Baird added. “Evidence from Çakmak Tepe, a nearby site excavated by Fatma Şahin, shows similar dates, indicating that both may predate other Taş Tepeler settlements.”