This was filmed a year or so back. It shows that #Göbeklitepe was not just a ritual site but was a settlement that reached its peak in the mid-9th mill. BC (Early PPNB). Indeed, earliest signs of settled life date back to the PPNA (late 10th mill. BC)

Göbeklitepe’deki Dağınık İnsan Kemiklerinin Nedeni Anlaşıldı. arkeolojisanat.com/blogs/ark…

Göbeklitepe'de bir ilk: 📌 Dağınık insan kemiklerinin gizemi çözüldü! #şanlıurfa #haber #sondakika #göbeklitepe gazeteipekyol.com/haber/1574…

The information on the burials has been circulating for years. I saw @drleeclare give a lecture on the first burial in 2017/18, and the second burial was presented at a major conference in 2023. This information has never been hidden. Publishing things properly takes time.

Göbeklitepe’deki Dağınık İnsan Kemiklerinin Nedeni Anlaşıldı arkeofili.com/gobeklitepedek…

Academic publications aren't always the easiest to track down if you don't know where to look, but the shift away from the "temple" narrative began to appear in print around 2020 (possibly earlier). This one also mentions the burial found in 2017. publications.dainst.org/jour…

I was invited to comment on the new paper by Julia Gresky and @drleeclare regarding the intact burials discovered at Göbekli Tepe. A very interesting study that helps situate the site within the broader context of the Neolithic period in SW Asia science.org/content/article/…

New publication on the human burials excavated at #Göbeklitepe. The burials presented in this study provide important insights into the many human bone fragments found in the fill of the Special Buildings. The evidence suggests that these fragments derive from displaced burials originally located higher up on the mound. Another piece in the puzzle of how the site developed and was transformed over time. journals.plos.org/plosone/ar…

The GT2 area at #Göbeklitepe has been a focus of our fieldwork both this year and in previous years since 2014. In fact, investigations are currently underway there in Special Building H and adjacent areas. So, no: this area has not been “left to gather dust”. That claim is simply false. Furthermore, the area can be observed by visitors now using the extended and improved walkway that passes through this part of the site. Before believing sweeping statements about what is or isn’t happening at #Göbeklitepe, it’s always best to check with the archaeologists working there.

Perhaps they should have invited an actual expert on the archaeology of #Göbeklitepe to this debate. Once again, they prefer to ignore the scientists at the cutting edge of its research

A very timely and highly recommended video by @DrHughT explaining past and current thinking around the burial/inundation of the special buildings at #Göbeklitepe. Thanks, mate!

I think an important distinction is being missed here. I am not arguing that intentional backfilling did not occur at Göbeklitepe. In fact, I explicitly discuss the possibility in my recent (2025) publication. The issue is the formation of the deposits actually excavated: repeated slope slides, rebuilding, collapsed superstructures, middens and sub-floor burials produced a much more complex depositional history. That is very different from presenting Göbeklitepe as an intentionally buried 11,600-year-old “time capsule” and calling the archaeological interpretation “debunked”.

Originally, Klaus Schmidt proposed that the special buildings at #Göbeklitepe were intentionally buried at the end of their “use-lives”, in a process perhaps comparable to the burial of a deceased individual. This interpretation has subsequently been used by alternative voices to support the idea that Göbeklitepe was a “time capsule”, intentionally buried as a warning of some impending cataclysm. Intentional decommissioning of buildings is documented at numerous Neolithic sites in our region. Here, this practice appears to have been concerned with the closure and transformation of places for the communities who inhabited them, not evidence for an impending catastrophe. More importantly, at Göbeklitepe we are seeing evidence that the collapse of superstructures on the surrounding slopes played a major role in filling some of the lower-lying special buildings. This was very likely exacerbated by earthquake events acting on already vulnerable slopes, as suggested by attempts to mitigate slope pressure through the construction of terrace walls. This has important implications for how we understand the abandonment and closure of these buildings. Any discussion of the “time capsule” hypothesis therefore needs to engage with the archaeological evidence for these backfill processes and with the conclusions presented in our numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Prof. Dr. Halet Çambel, ülkemizde tarihöncesi arkeolojisinin uluslararası standartlarda kurulup gelişmesi, eğitimde bilimsel metodolojinin, kazılarda modern tekniklerin, prehistorya laboratuvarının, TÜBİTAK’a bağlı Arkeometri Ünitesi’nin kurulmasında, özellikle tarihöncesi alanda genç kuşakların yetişmesinde çok önemli yeri olan bilim insanlarımızdandır. Güneydoğu Anadolu Tarihöncesi Araştırmaları Karma Projesi (Çayönü Kazıları), Keban Bölgesi Tarihi Eserleri Kurtarma ve Değerlendirme Projesi ile Aşağı Fırat Kurtarma Kazıları projesinin hayata geçirilmesinde onun büyük emeği vardır. Doğumunun 110 . yıldönümünde sevgi, saygı ve minnetle anıyoruz. NB

#Göbeklitepe’den iyi akşamlar.

This excavation season is once again providing evidence for the development from round and oval buildings in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, 9,600–8,700 BC) to more rectangular structures in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB, 8,700–8,200 BC). Undoubtedly, the “DISCOVERY OF THE CORNER” in the early 9th millennium BC is one of the most inspiring developments visible in the settlements of the sedentary hunter-gatherer communities in the #TaşTepeler

A brand new discovery from Karahantepe!

Introducing our flotation machine at #Göbeklitepe. Excavated sediment is processed in water to separate it into heavy and light fractions. The heavy fraction contains stones, bones and other small finds, some of which may not be visible to the naked eye during excavation. The light fraction is collected in a fine mesh and can contain tiny botanical and faunal remains, including charred grains and very small bones. Flotation allows us to recover evidence that might otherwise be missed, providing important insights into diet, subsistence, environment and many other aspects of prehistoric life.

& you know what will happen if they do? Archaeologists will publish that information. We will update our ideas and theories and adapt to this new information. It's why archaeology is fun! (Video from 2 weeks ago showing the excavation of domestic structures by Lee/his team.) 5/5

Calling hunter-gatherers ‘primitive’ is a deeply problematic and ethnocentric way of describing prehistoric societies. It imposes a hierarchical model of human development rather than describing the societies on their own terms.