Archaeological excavations at Mendik Tepe, a site believed to predate both Göbeklitepe—often called the “zero point of history”—and Karahantepe, are offering new insights into humanity’s earliest steps toward settled life.

Situated in the rural Payamlı neighborhood of Şanlıurfa’s Eyyübiye district, Mendik Tepe was first identified by excavation director Fatma Şahin. Work at the site began in 2024 under the leadership of Professor Douglas Baird of the University of Liverpool’s Department of Archaeology. The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, supported by the British Institute of Archaeology, and forms part of Türkiye’s “Taş Tepeler” (Stone Hills) Project led by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Investigating Early Neolithic Structures

Professor Baird explained that excavations have already uncovered several buildings of different sizes, sparking questions about their function and significance.

“Last year we opened a few trenches and immediately began to find structures,” Baird said. “Some were small—about three meters across—others slightly larger, and a few were significantly bigger. This season, our aim is to understand why these buildings varied so much in size.”

According to Baird, Mendik Tepe likely dates to the earliest stages of the Neolithic era, when people were first abandoning mobile foraging to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle, possibly experimenting with plant cultivation.

“This site seems to capture the very beginnings of that transformation,” he noted. “We’re asking fundamental questions about why people settled down and how agriculture may have started.”

Earlier than Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe?

Baird added that Mendik Tepe and nearby Çakmak Tepe, also being excavated under Şahin’s direction, appear to be older than much of what has been unearthed at Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe.

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