Karahan Tepe

Karahan Tepe is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic archaeological site in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. The site is in the same geographical region as Göbekli Tepe, and archaeologists have also uncovered T-shaped stelae there and believe that the sites are related. Additionally, the site may be the earliest known human village, predating the construction of Göbekli Tepe by several centuries, dating to between 10,000 and 9500 BC. The site, discovered in 1997 by Bahattin Celik (Harran University), is located near Yağmurlu and roughly 46 kilometers east of Göbekli Tepe, which is often called its sister site. It is part of the Göbekli Tepe Culture and Karahan Tepe Excavations project. The area is known as “Keçilitepe” by local people. It is part of a group of about 12 similar sites being investigated, known as "Taş Tepeler". Research is being done to better understand the organization of the workforce and the degree and nature of the specialization involved in the construction of these monuments.