5 November 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

A Special structure Contemporary to Göbeklitepe found at Gre Fılla Höyük in Eastern Turkey

Pit-bottomed structures dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period were found at Gre Fılla Höyük (Gre Fılla Mound) in the province of Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey. It was determined that the steles found in one of these buildings were contemporary with Göbeklitepe.

Excavations have been carried out in the mound since 2018, under the chairmanship of the Diyarbakır Museum Directorate, under the scientific consultancy of Kocaeli University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Archeology Department Head Prof Dr. Ayşe Tuba Ökse.

During the ongoing excavations in the mound, the remains and religious and social living areas of societies that lived in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period (PPNA) were determined. In this settlement, which dates back 11,000 to 12,000 years, excavations continued for four years, revealing the finding of the oldest settled communities.

During the excavations carried out in the mound, it was determined that the oldest settlement started in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period, and Ambar Höyük and Kendale Hecala, a few hundred meters away, were populated in the Early Neolithic Age.

In this mound, where the oldest known settlement in Diyarbakır was seen, it was observed that first round-planned shelters were used, and then the settlement became narrow-planned.

Prof Dr. Ayşe Tuba Ökse said that three different pit structures with a diameter of almost 10 meters were unearthed.

Photo: AA

“There were steles in one of the pit structures that are contemporary with Göbeklitepe. There were 4 steles in them to carry the roof. According to the artifacts, we can say that a certain amount of ritual behavior is exhibited here. We can define it as common usage areas where a belief and social life coexist. We don’t want to call them temples directly. Because we don’t have that much data yet, it is more appropriate to say that these are special structures. Just like in Göbeklitepe.”

Stating that they have excavated two main periods, one of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and one of the Late Antique Age graveyards, Ökse says that they can define these areas as areas where the people around them can socialize collectively and where they can perform their rituals in the context of belief.

Özlem Ekinbaş Can, a doctoral student at the Department of Archeology at Kocaeli University, who was part of the excavation team, said that Gre Fılla could be a symbol for the region for the Tigris line, just as Göbeklitepe is a symbol for the Euphrates line.

Özlem Ekinbaş Can said, “It is our duty to somehow carry future the 11,000-year-old structures that have survived from the past to the present.”

Can also added that the altars with figures found inside one of the pit structures were delivered to the museum.

During the excavations that have been going on for 4 years, 2 thousand 687 artifacts dating back to 7 thousand BC until today were unearthed.

Related Articles

The oldest trace of human activity discovered in North America dates back 23,000 years

26 September 2021

26 September 2021

A recent fossil footprint found in New Mexico, the United States, indicates that humans existed in North America about 23,000...

The inhabitants of Pınarbaşı Höyük in central Turkey may be the ancestors of the Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük neolithic human communities

27 July 2022

27 July 2022

The Department of Excavations and Researchs, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey, attracted...

Stonehenge’s Altar Stone May Be From Scotland, Over 700 Kilometers Away

14 August 2024

14 August 2024

Recent research led by Curtin University suggests that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge may have originated in northeast Scotland, at...

Native American artifacts from 1100 AD found in North America’s First City

20 June 2024

20 June 2024

Cahokia is the largest and most significant urban settlement of the Mississippian culture, known for creating massive earthen platform mounds...

Aizanoi Ancient City is Being Restored

15 March 2021

15 March 2021

In the 5000-year-old ancient city, the focus is on restoration, starting with the theater and the stadium. Aizanoi Ancient City...

Oregon may be home to oldest human occupied site in North America

12 July 2023

12 July 2023

Where and when the first humans appeared in North America is a contentious issue that many disagree on, and this...

Medieval Weapon Chest Found on Sunken Medieval Flagship Gribshunden

20 April 2024

20 April 2024

An extensive exploration of the wreck of the royal flagship Gribshunden has unearthed a trove of new findings: new insights...

Hand disease known as Viking disease may have its origins in Neanderthal genes

14 June 2023

14 June 2023

A recent study in the Oxford University Press journal Molecular Biology and Evolution demonstrates that a condition known as Dupuytren’s...

Researchers find 3,000-year-old shark attack victim in Japan

24 June 2021

24 June 2021

In a paper published today, Oxford-led researchers reveal their discovery of a 3,000-year-old victim—attacked by a shark in the Seto...

Archaeologists unearth 6,000-year-old two monumental mounds containing wooden grave chambers in Germany

16 March 2024

16 March 2024

Archaeologists from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDA) have uncovered a significant Neolithic burial landscape on...

New finds in ancient Rome’s Pompeii show ‘conditions of precarity and poor hygiene, in which people of lower status lived during that time

20 August 2023

20 August 2023

Archaeologists have discovered a small bedroom in Civita Giuliana villa near Pompeii that was almost certainly used by slaves, throwing...

Rare bronze hand discovered in Roman Vindolanda, England

11 July 2023

11 July 2023

One of Europe’s most important Roman archeological sites is the Fort of Vindolanda, one of the earliest Roman garrisons built...

Hundreds of oil lamps discovered in Aigai, “the City of Goats”

23 September 2023

23 September 2023

During the ongoing excavations in the Aigai Ancient City, located near the Yuntdağı Köseler Village of Manisa province in western...

Archaeologists Find Ornate Roman Domūs in Nimes

25 February 2021

25 February 2021

Archaeologists conducting archaeological excavations in the French city of Nimes have discovered the remains of two high-status Roman domus (houses)....

The first Iberian lead plate inscribed with an archaic script was found at Pico de Los Ajos in Yátova

13 June 2021

13 June 2021

At the Pico de Los Ajos site in Valencia, Spain, a rare lead sheet engraved in ancient Iberian was unearthed....