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Massive 9,000-Year-Old 'Pre-Pottery Neolithic' Ritual Complex Uncovered in Southeastern Turkey’s Mardin Province

📅 April 12, 2026 📰 Archaeology Magazine
Massive 9,000-Year-Old 'Pre-Pottery Neolithic' Ritual Complex Uncovered in Southeastern Turkey’s Mardin Province

Excavations at the Boncuklu Tarla site extension have revealed a massive communal structure featuring upright megalithic pillars and stylized animal carvings. This discovery provides new insights into the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to settled religious communities, suggesting a shared regional spiritual culture distinct from nearby Göbekli Tepe.

Archaeologists discovered three large circular buildings and several T-shaped limestone pillars measuring up to 3 meters in height. The pillars are adorned with intricate reliefs of vultures, scorpions, and feline predators, indicating a complex symbolic language used by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B inhabitants of the region. This site is now considered one of the most significant early sedentary settlements ever found in Upper Mesopotamia.

Original source: Archaeology Magazine