An atlas of Earth’s mysterious places — megaliths, pyramids, lost and sunken cities — with the evidence shown plainly: what is verified, what is contested, and what is still unknown.

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Turkey

371 places in the atlas, 32 of them inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.

Kinds found here

Tells202
Mounds166
Ancient villages159
Ancient cities133
Buried cities124
Temple complexes96
Ancient ports25
Submerged sites25
Archaeological wonders23
Settlements23
Sanctuaries21
Megaliths13

How well established

Verified354
Accepted16
Contested1

Top regions

Central Anatolia9
Şanlıurfa Province, Southeastern Anatolia4
Gaziantep Province3
Gaziantep Province, Southeastern Anatolia3
Hatay Province3
Mersin Province, Cilicia3

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Verification

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Verified354 Widely accepted16 Contested

Aegean (Izmir)2

Antalya Province, Lycia2

Antalya Province, Pamphylia2

Bartın Province, Amasra2

Burdur Province, Lake District2

Diyarbakır Province, Bismil District, Upper Tigris2

Hypothetical0

Unverified0

Pseudoarchaeology0

Heritage

UNESCO World Heritage only

Excavation

Partially excavated141 Excavation ongoing141 Excavated73 Buried9 Submerged5 Unexcavated1 Not applicable1

39 places · page 1 of 2

Mounds Excavated Clear all

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Maydos Kilisetepe

Prehistoric · Regional Chalcolithic-EBA

Maydos Kilisetepe — buried prehistoric tell/village at Çanakkale Province.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Beşik-Sivritepe

Prehistoric · Regional Chalcolithic-EBA

Beşik-Sivritepe — buried prehistoric tell/village at Çanakkale Province.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Tepecik (İnegöl)

Prehistoric · Regional Chalcolithic-EBA

Tepecik (İnegöl) — buried prehistoric tell/village at Bursa Province.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Grek Amele

Prehistoric · Regional Chalcolithic-EBA

Grek Amele — buried prehistoric tell/village at Diyarbakır Province.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Höyücek (Höyücek Höyük / Burdur Sanctuary)

Late Neolithic through Early Bronze (6400–2700 BCE) · Burdur–Antalya Late Neolithic → Early Chalcolithic shrine phase → Lakes EBA

Höyücek (Höyücek Höyük / Burdur Sanctuary) is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Burdur Province, Bucak District, Burdur–Antalya foothills, Turkey — Neolithic–Chalcolithic sanctuary village with…

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Karatepe-Aslantaş (Azatiwataya) Open-Air Citadel

Iron Age Neo-Hittite (732–650 BCE) with EBA substrate · Neo-Hittite Luwian–Phoenician (Adana plain)

Karatepe-Aslantaş (Azatiwataya) Open-Air Citadel is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Osmaniye Province, Kadirli District, Ceyhan River, Taurus foothills, Turkey — Northern Cilician gateway…

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Alişar Höyük (Alişar Village Mound)

Chalcolithic through Byzantine (Chalcolithic, EBA Karum, Hittite, Phrygian, Byzantine) · Anatolian Chalcolithic → Assyrian Colony (karum) → Hittite → Phrygian

Alişar Höyük (Alişar Village Mound) is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Yozgat Province, Sorgun District, Kanak Su valley, Turkey — Fortified karum-colony and Hittite administrative centre on…

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Kuruçay Höyük (Burdur Lakes District)

Late Neolithic through Early Bronze III (6200–2300 BCE) · Burdur Lakes Late Neolithic → Early Chalcolithic → EBA (Kuruçay)

Kuruçay Höyük (Burdur Lakes District) is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Burdur Province, Burdur District, Burdur Lake plain, Turkey — Lakes District type-site for Early Bronze fortified…

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Maşat Höyük (Tapigga / Tapikka)

Late Chalcolithic through Iron Age (Chalcolithic, EBA, Hittite, Iron) · Hattian → Hittite (Tapikka) → Phrygian/Kaska contact

Maşat Höyük (Tapigga / Tapikka) is a multi-period tell/ancient village in Tokat Province, Zile District, Yeşilırmak headwaters, Turkey — Hittite northeastern frontier archive town controlling Kaska…

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Domuztepe (Kahramanmaraş Province, Türkoğlu District, Maraş Plain)

Late Neolithic → Halaf → Northern Ubaid (6200–4800 BCE) · Halaf-Ubaid transitional (North Mesopotamian painted pottery)

Halaf mega-village (5800–5400 BCE, 20 ha) — largest Halaf site with Death Pit feasting/cannibalism horizon.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Kinet Höyük (Issos)

Early Bronze III through Medieval (EBA, MBA, LBA Izziya, Iron Age, Classical, Byzantine) · Cilician coastal / Hittite (Izziya) → Syro-Cilician → Classical Greek/Roman

Coastal tell (Bronze Age Izziya, Classical Issos) — 5 kyr harbour sequence from EB III to Medieval, Alexander battlefield anchor.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Türbe Höyük

Halaf-Ubaid → Late Chalcolithic → EBA/Uruk (5900–3100 BCE) · Halaf-Ubaid → Uruk (North Mesopotamian painted then Uruk expansion)

Halaf-Ubaid (5900–4800 BCE) Uruk-contact village — 4 ha buried Euphrates village, Birecik Dam salvage type-site.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Korucutepe Keban East Mound

Late Chalcolithic to Mitanni (4000 BCE–1350 BCE) · Late Chalcolithic → EBA → MBA → Hittite → Mittani

Korucutepe Keban East Mound is the eastern salvage mound 300 m east of Korucutepe main on the Altınova plain (860 m) — twin mound testing the Keban Altınova Hittite–Mittani frontier.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Hallan Çemi Tepesi

Epipalaeolithic / PPNA transitional (Natufian-related → Pre-Pottery Neolithic) · Sason Epipaleolithic → PPNA Upper Tigris foragers

Epipalaeolithic-PPNA hamlet (c.11ky BP) with C-shaped communal auroch-bucrania building — earliest pig management and pre-Göbekli communal architecture, Sason Stream.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Körtik Tepe

PPNA to early PPNB (Late Epipaleolithic → Neolithic) · Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPNA, Upper Tigris forager-cultivators)

PPNA buried village (11200–9500 cal BP) with 400 burials under round-house floors — Upper Tigris type-site for Neolithic mortuary behaviour, Ilısu salvage.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient village

Girikihaciyan

Late Neolithic → Halaf → Ubaid (6000–4300 BCE) · Halaf (North Mesopotamian painted) → Northern Ubaid

Halaf hamlet (c.6000–4300 BCE, 175 m) — classic Halaf tholoi type-site on Diyarbakır piedmont (Watson/LeBlanc 1968).

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Mezraa-Teleilat

PPNA through Ubaid (c.9600–5500 BCE); PPNA, PPNB, Halaf, Ubaid · Upper Euphrates Neolithic (Mezraa phase) → Halaf → Ubaid

Neolithic–Halaf Euphrates tell (c.9600–5500 BCE) with PPNA round huts to Halaf painted pottery — Euphrates Neolithic type-site.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Giricano Tepe (Gırcano)

Early Bronze Age through Iron Age II; MBA Khabur ware, Neo-Assyrian 11th–7th c. BCE · MBA Khabur ware → Middle Assyrian frontier → Neo-Assyrian provincial (Dunnu)

Upper Tigris Assyrian farmstead tell (c.1070–600 BCE) with Dunnu-ša-Uzibi archive — Ilısu salvage text site.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Ziyaret Tepe (Tušhan)

Bronze Age veneer → Neo-Assyrian provincial (Iron Age) · Mitanni → Middle/Neo-Assyrian (Ashurnasirpal II–Ashurbanipal)

Assyrian imperial capital Tušhan (883–611 BCE) — 32 ha citadel + lower town with palace, palace ware and Tigris quay, burned at Median fall, Upper Tigris frontier.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Norsun Tepe (Norsuntepe)

Late Chalcolithic to MBA (Uruk, EBA, MBA) · Late Uruk → Transcaucasian (Kura-Araxes) → MBA Hurrian

Keban salvage tell with Chalcolithic–MBA stratified sequence — Uruk enclave, Transcaucasian (Karaz) and early Mitanni levels before Euphrates dam flooding.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient village

Zeytinli Bahçe Höyük

Halaf-Ubaid to Early Bronze (5500–3000 BCE; peak LC 3800–3300 BCE) · Halaf-Ubaid → Late Chalcolithic Euphrates → Uruk fringe

Euphrates Ubaid–Uruk terrace tell with tripartite elite hall and wall painting.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Başur Höyük

Late Chalcolithic (LC4-5) pre-Uruk to Jemdet Nasr · Upper Tigris LC culture (Uruk-extended / local transcaucasian)

Siirt ‘royal’ chalcolithic cemetery (3500–3000 BCE) with retainer burials — copper, lapis and earliest gaming set at Uruk fringe, Upper Tigris inequality origin.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Ilıpınar Höyük

Late Neolithic to EBA (Marmara Neolithic, Chalcolithic) · Marmara Neolithic (Fikirtepe) → Late Chalcolithic (İznik) → EBA

Marmara lakeside Neolithic tell (5800–3500 BCE) with waterlogged wooden tools — wattle-daub village, bone sickles, then ditched Chalcolithic mound, İznik Lake type-site.

✓Verified

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Seyitömer Höyük

Early Bronze Age I-III to Iron Age; lignite-sealed · Western Anatolian EBA (Yortan-like) → MBA Hittite influence

Western Anatolian EBA proto-urban tell (170×185 m) with EBA I-III fortified town, early tin-bronze and mass burial, rescued ahead of coal mining.

Turkey

Kinds found here

How well established

Top regions

Category

Heritage

Excavation

Tags

39 places · page 1 of 2

Maydos Kilisetepe

Beşik-Sivritepe

Tepecik (İnegöl)

Grek Amele

Höyücek (Höyücek Höyük / Burdur Sanctuary)

Karatepe-Aslantaş (Azatiwataya) Open-Air Citadel

Alişar Höyük (Alişar Village Mound)

Kuruçay Höyük (Burdur Lakes District)

Maşat Höyük (Tapigga / Tapikka)

Domuztepe (Kahramanmaraş Province, Türkoğlu District, Maraş Plain)

Kinet Höyük (Issos)

Türbe Höyük

Korucutepe Keban East Mound

Hallan Çemi Tepesi

Körtik Tepe

Girikihaciyan

Mezraa-Teleilat

Giricano Tepe (Gırcano)

Ziyaret Tepe (Tušhan)

Norsun Tepe (Norsuntepe)

Zeytinli Bahçe Höyük

Başur Höyük

Ilıpınar Höyük

Seyitömer Höyük