Recent studies in Southeast Anatolia, conducted as part of the recently launched Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project, provide the first detailed information about the beginning of neolithisation. The Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project, known as »Taş Tepeler«, focuses on the period starting from the very beginning of settled life to the complete adaption of farming societies characterized by sedentism and food production. It encompasses archaeological research at 12 sites in southeastern Anatolia: Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, Gürcütepe, Sayburç, Çakmaktepe, Harbetsuvan, Sefertepe, and Yeni Mahalle. The settlements date back to the period when humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to a sedentary way of life approximately 12,000 years ago.
Sedentism led to a series of changes in society, technology and culture. During this period, the foundations were laid for the social dynamics and economic developments that have brought us to where we are today. The monumental structures in the region may have served as communal spaces where people gathered and practised rituals to maintain their traditions. In Karahantepe, for example, more than 250 T-shaped megalithic blocks similar to those at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Göbeklitepe have been discovered.
We are delighted to welcome Necmi Karul from Istanbul University to the Austrian Academy of Sciences on 26 June 2025 at 3.30 p.m. He is director of excavations at Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe and project manager of the Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project. At the invitation of the University of Vienna, the interdisciplinary research network HEAS, the Natural History Museum and the Austrian Archaeological Institute, Prof. Karul will give a lecture entitled »The land of great transformation. Karahantepe and the last hunter-gatherers of the Şanliurfa plateau«, focussing in particular on the latest excavations at Karahantepe, a pre-Neolithic site in the Turkish province of Şanlıurfa.