Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut)
Ayanlar Höyüğü · Ayanlar Höyük · Gre Hut · Ayanlar Tepe
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to early PPNB·Taş Tepeler / Upper Euphrates PPN·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey
About
About Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut)
Large Pre-Pottery Neolithic Taş Tepeler settlement (14 ha) discovered 2013, 30 km west of Şanlıurfa on the Euphrates upper terrace. Like Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, it yielded T-shaped pillars, terrazzo floors and massive limestone enclosure walls, but remains largely unexcavated; three Neolithic artefacts in Şanlıurfa Museum (including a fox pillar) were traced to its surface. Part of the twelve-site Taş Tepeler network redefining hunter-gatherer monumentality c. 9600–8200 BCE.
Why it mattersOne of twelve Taş Tepeler pillar sites extending Göbekli Tepe tradition 50 km west; proves regional cultic network, not single centre.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How Ayanlar enclosures relate stratigraphically to Göbekli Level III?
- 02Source of fox pillar now in museum — which enclosure?
Theories
- 01Central place for Euphrates terrace bands before domestication
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 9600–8500 BCE (PPNA–early PPNB)
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to early PPNB
- Culture
- Taş Tepeler / Upper Euphrates PPN
- Builders
- Hunter-gatherer–early farming communities
- Purpose
- Ceremonial enclosure complex and seasonal gathering centre
- Abandoned
- c. 8200 BCE (burial/infill)
- Rediscovered
- 2013 surface survey (B. Çelik); 2025 joint Turkish-Japanese excavation announced
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2013
Discovered during Şanlıurfa survey
2017
Identified as Taş Tepeler pillar site (Çelik)
2025
Chiba Institute–Şanlıurfa Museum joint excavation launched with Princess Akiko ceremony
On the ground
Structures & features
37.1861° N · 38.5598° E · 658 m · 2 mapped features
T-pillar enclosure (unexcavated)
enclosureGeophysical anomaly indicating circular enclosure with central twin pillars, ~22 m diameter
37.1863° N · 38.5599° ETerrazzo floor exposure
floorSurface exposure of lime terrazzo similar to Göbekli Level II
37.1859° N · 38.5595° E
Gallery