North Kurdistan · Bakur · Prehistory
Göbekli Tepe (Girê Mirazan)
The oldest monumental architecture known on earth — stone circles raised some 11,000 years ago, before farming, pottery or writing.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Period
- c. 9600–8200 BC
- Place
- Near Riha (Şanlıurfa)
- Region
- North Kurdistan · Bakur
- Age
- Prehistory
On a hilltop above the Harran plain, people who still lived by hunting and gathering carved T-shaped limestone pillars, some more than five metres tall, and set them in great rings. Foxes, boars, snakes and vultures are cut into the stone in relief; some pillars have arms and hands, as if they were figures.
Göbekli Tepe is about six thousand years older than Stonehenge. Its discovery turned an old idea around: here, it seems, the gathering place came first, and settled life followed. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.
Chosen and introduced by Aram Mizuri, architect in Erbil