Çakmaktepe
Çakmaktepe · Cakmaktepe
PPNA–PPNB (Taş Tepeler)·Taş Tepeler PPN foragers (Göbekli–Karahan sphere)·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Eyyübiye/Karahan range, Taş Tepeler ridge, Turkey
Natural Earth, Eylem Özdoğan, B. Köşker, K. Akdemir · CC BY-SA 4.0
About
About Çakmaktepe
Taş Tepeler ridge-top PPNA settlement (c.9300–8500 BCE) revealed 2021 as 9th Stone Hill — Karul (Istanbul Univ.) reports large enclosure with standing limestone pillars and fox/boar T-relief, plus semisubterranean round-houses with terrazzo and stone bowl caches. Hillside terrace wall mirrors Göbekli quarrying. Domestic slope includes PPNB Naviform core scatter. On same ridge as Karahan, linking Göbekli–Karahan hill chain. Unexcavated extent c.5 ha.
Why it mattersCompletes Karahan–Çakmaktepe ridge pairing — supports 30 km hill-chain settlement ribbon rather than isolated cult mounds.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Does Çakmaktepe pre- or post-date Karahan enclosure — contemporaneous hill chain chronology?
- 02Terrazzo source — imported lime vs on-site hydraulic?
Theories
- 01Karul contiguous hill occupation vs Schmidt isolated mountaintop shrine
- 02Çakmaktepe as Karahan satellite vs equal nuclear hill
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.9300 BP T-enclosure; PPNB domestic 8600–8500 BCE
- Period
- PPNA–PPNB (Taş Tepeler)
- Culture
- Taş Tepeler PPN foragers (Göbekli–Karahan sphere)
- Builders
- PPN hill builders with pillar carvers
- Purpose
- Ridgetop enclosure-village on Karahan–Göbekli corridor
- Abandoned
- c.8500 BCE hill abandonment as lowland tells rise
- Rediscovered
- Found 2021 survey; test trenches 2022– Karul/Istanbul Univ.
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2021
Çakmaktepe identified as Taş Tepeler 9th hill with surface T-pillars
2022
Enclosure with fox relief pillar exposed
On the ground
Structures & features
37.4830° N · 39.2850° E · 720 m · 3 mapped features
Enclosure with T-pillar
communal structureRound enclosure 12 m with fox relief pillar
37.4832° N · 39.2852° EDomestic terrazzo houses
settlementSemisubterranean round-houses south ridge
37.4830° N · 39.2850° EQuarry terrace
quarryPillar quarry bed on limestone ridge
37.4834° N · 39.2853° E
Gallery