10,500-Year-Old Skulls Found at Sefertepe, Turkey, Suggest Neolithic Rituals

T-stelae successful Sefertepe successful southeastern Turkey. Credit: Frantisek Trampota / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Archaeologists person uncovered 12 quality skulls astatine Sefertepe, a large tract successful southeastern Turkey’s Taş Tepeler Project. The remains, dated to much than 10,500 years ago, adhd to grounds that the colony served arsenic a halfway of ritual practices during the Neolithic era.

The excavations are led by Assoc. Prof. Emre Güldoğan of Istanbul University’s Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, nether the “Şanlıurfa Neolithic Age Research – Taş Tepeler Project” initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Expanding the “skull room”

Last year, archaeologists uncovered a enclosure astatine Sefertepe known arsenic the “skull room,” wherever 31 skulls and fragments were recovered. This season, the squad recovered 8 further skulls successful the aforesaid enclosure and 4 much successful a adjacent cell. The discoveries rise the full importantly and suggest a semipermanent contented of ritual activity.

🚨 BREAKING: Archaeologists successful Şanlıurfa’s Sefertepe person unearthed 12 quality skulls, dating backmost astir 10,500 years. Found successful 2 chambers—eight successful the “skull room” and 4 elsewhere—all portion of the Neolithic Tas Tepeler Project. Previous finds see 31 skulls ranging from… pic.twitter.com/487L2ome3H

— History Content (@HistContent) September 14, 2025

This year’s enactment involves 39 specialists, students, and workers crossed six trenches, Güldoğan explained. “Each caller find strengthens our knowing of the taste and societal networks of the Neolithic age. Sefertepe is proving to beryllium a cardinal tract successful knowing not lone architecture but besides the symbolic satellite of these communities.”

Anthropological findings

Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Selim Erdal of Hacettepe University is studying the skulls. Previous investigation of past year’s samples revealed individuals ranging from infants arsenic young arsenic six months to adults astir 40 years old.

Şanlıurfa Sefertepe kazılarında 12 insan kafatası bulundu:

📌 Kafataslarının yaklaşık 10 bin 500 yıl öncesine ait olduğu belirlendi.
📌 Kafataslarının, 6 aylık bebekten 40 yaşındaki yetişkinlere kadar farklı yaş gruplarına ait olduğu bildirildi. pic.twitter.com/keHZSWqjgo

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Erdal said the wide property scope indicates the remains were not tied to a azygous catastrophic lawsuit but reflected ritual practices carried retired implicit generations. Researchers judge this supports the mentation of Sefertepe arsenic a ritual hub, overmuch similar its sister tract Göbeklitepe, wherever ancestor worship and symbolic traditions played a cardinal role.

Architecture, farming, and restoration

Excavations person besides exposed the level of a peculiar gathering associated with the skulls. The bedrock had been deliberately leveled, and carved pits suggest the operation was designed for ceremonial use. Restoration enactment continues connected breached lasting stones recovered successful earlier seasons, thought to person been utilized successful rituals akin to those astatine Göbeklitepe.

This year, researchers besides began botanical studies astatine Sefertepe to analyse aboriginal works usage and the beginnings of agriculture. The enactment could shed airy connected however section hunter-gatherer groups transitioned into settled farming communities.

A wider taste network

Sefertepe is 1 of 12 sites successful the Taş Tepeler, oregon “Stone Hills,” Project successful Şanlıurfa. Together, these sites, dating betwixt 9,000 and 12,000 years ago, correspond the earliest known examples of monumental ritual architecture.

While Göbeklitepe is often called the “zero constituent of history,” archaeologists accidental Sefertepe is emerging arsenic a cardinal determination successful its ain right. The discoveries suggest it was portion of a broader taste scenery wherever interconnected communities shared architecture, content systems, and rituals.