Şanlıurfa Yeni Mahalle Excavations

Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle Excavation: Opening a Door to the Stone Age

Have you ever heard of an ancient story buried beneath the soil? Have you ever wondered how people lived thousands of years ago and what they did? Archaeologists, scientists who uncover ancient objects and homes buried in the earth, dig to bring these old stories to light.

Şanlıurfa, located in southeastern Türkiye, is a special city that holds many such stories. One of them is the Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle Mound, situated near the center of the city and close to Balıklıgöl. Excavations here have revealed important information from the Stone Age, a very distant time when people used stones as tools.

Journey Through Time: The Stone Age at Yeni Mahalle ⏳

About 11,000 years ago, people had not yet learned to make pottery from clay. This period is called the "Pre-Pottery Neolithic." During this time, people still obtained their food through hunting and gathering from nature. However, they were gradually abandoning their nomadic lifestyle and beginning to settle in one place—that is, adopting a sedentary way of life. The remains found at the Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle Mound belong to this ancient era.

How Were the Discoveries Made? ✨

The first major discovery at Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle Mound occurred in 1993 during renovation works around Balıklıgöl. At that time, a stone statue nearly two meters tall, resembling a human figure, was uncovered. The statue’s eyes were made of shining obsidian (a type of volcanic glass).

In 1997, during road construction, a portion of the mound was accidentally exposed, prompting archaeologists to immediately begin rescue excavations. These excavations revealed a total of 13 distinct layers dating to the Stone Age. These layers were like pages of a history book, each one opening a new chapter on the lives of the people who lived during that time.

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Houses and Traces of Life 🏡

One of the most interesting finds from the excavations was the remains of circular-plan houses. The floors of these houses were covered with a hard, glossy material called terrazzo. Archaeologists have found similar houses at other Neolithic settlements, indicating that people of this period greatly favored building circular homes.

In addition to the houses, the excavations uncovered numerous small stone tools, especially sharp-pointed ones like arrowheads. These tools show that the people living at the time engaged in hunting and used them to hunt animals.