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Findings shed light on the daily lives, beliefs and burial practices of some of the earliest settled communities.
Archaeologists have excavated around 70 Neolithic structures at Sayburç, an approximately 11,000-year-old settlement in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa province. Among the discoveries is a relief depicting humans and animals, considered the oldest known narrative scene carved in stone, CNN reported.
The settlement was discovered in 2020 near the foothills of the Eastern Taurus Mountains. Staff from the Şanlıurfa Museum recognized ancient T-shaped pillars among stones that local residents had been using to build fences. Such structures are characteristic of hunter-gatherer communities that lived in the region around 11,000 years ago.
Excavations began in 2021 under the direction of Eylem Özdoğan, an archaeologist at Istanbul University. The findings are helping researchers investigate the daily lives and burial customs of early settled communities.
As of 2026, researchers had uncovered around 70 structures, including dwellings and five communal buildings. The structures stand close together. Stone containers and grinding equipment suggest that residents processed grain, although the possibility that they brewed beer remains unconfirmed.
In one circular communal building, archaeologists discovered a stone bench approximately 3.7 meters long, decorated with a relief depicting five figures: two men, a bull and two leopards.
One man raises his left hand, which has six fingers, while holding an object in his right hand. The second man stands between the leopards and is depicted in high relief, protruding more prominently from the stone surface.
In a 2022 study published in the journal Antiquity, Özdoğan described the composition as the oldest known narrative scene carved in stone.
Similar imagery appears at other sites in the Taş Tepeler archaeological region, including Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe. At Sayburç, however, the figures are interconnected and form a coherent composition. Their precise meaning remains unknown.
Possible interpretations include encounters between humans and dangerous animals, a rite of passage into adulthood, or beliefs associated with fertility. Özdoğan considers none of these explanations definitive.
“These are oral cultures, so they cannot transmit norms and traditions through writing. They pass on all these traditions through words and stories. This probably helped them remember stories, preserve what they needed to know and pass it on to new generations,” the archaeologist said.
Excavations have also revealed that the dead were buried inside residential buildings, including beneath floors. This may indicate that the deceased were considered to remain connected to the people living in the household.
In 2025, researchers found a small carved figurine that may represent a deceased person. Its mouth appears closed or sewn shut, although the depiction alone does not establish that such a burial practice existed.
In some cases, human bones were found mixed with animal remains. Together with depictions of scavenging birds at other Taş Tepeler sites, this has prompted a hypothesis involving “sky burials.” Under this interpretation, bodies may initially have been left exposed so animals or birds could remove soft tissue, after which the bones were buried.
A comparable image at Göbekli Tepe shows a vulture beside a headless human body on a pillar.
T-shaped pillars have been found both inside and outside buildings. Carved arms and belts suggest that they may represent stylized human figures. In one central structure, a face is carved near the base of a pillar. A large niche stands opposite it, while nearby pillars bear images of a leopard and a pig.
The Neolithic remains are well preserved, although some areas have been damaged by a later Roman settlement and a modern village established in the mid-20th century. Özdoğan is involved in developing an open-air museum project intended to protect the site and make it accessible to visitors.
Research at Turkey’s Çatalhöyük settlement, another important archaeological site, has also revised earlier interpretations of ancient technology. Copper fragments dating back around 8,500 years were once considered evidence of deliberate metal smelting. Analysis later showed that their composition and structure resembled pigments found at the settlement. Copper beads and other ornaments from later layers had different chemical and isotopic compositions.
Meanwhile, archaeologists working at the Hittite city of Şapinuva in central Turkey have uncovered animal remains in a building dating back approximately 3,400 years. In 2025, they found the headless skeleton of a lamb or young goat in one of two symmetrical rooms. In 2026, a cattle skull was discovered in the other.
Researchers believe the remains may be linked to sacrificial rituals performed during the building’s construction, reconstruction or ritual purification.
