Göbekli Tepe is no longer alone. Karahantepe, located about 35 kilometres east in the same Taş Tepeler ("Stone Hills") cultural region, is now under active excavation and revealing structures every bit as remarkable as those at the more famous site.
The basics
Both sites belong to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period and date to roughly the same era — the late 10th to mid-9th millennium BCE. Both feature T-shaped limestone pillars arranged in circular and rectangular structures, and both were used and then deliberately buried by their builders.
What's different at Karahantepe
The character of Karahantepe is distinct in several ways. First, the structures appear partly carved directly into the bedrock — pillars and benches were shaped from the living rock rather than fully constructed from imported stone. Second, the iconography includes life-size human figures and overtly phallic carvings that have not been found at Göbekli Tepe. Third, the largest excavated chamber contains a row of eleven T-pillars set into a bedrock-cut bench.
What this combination tells us
Together, the two sites suggest a regional ceremonial network rather than a single isolated centre. The Taş Tepeler programme — a coordinated effort by Turkish archaeologists to investigate around a dozen related sites — is reframing the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic as a much more interconnected and architecturally ambitious phase than was previously understood.
Visiting Karahantepe
Karahantepe opened a visitor walkway in recent seasons and is fully accessible. Most tours from Şanlıurfa now offer combined Göbekli Tepe + Karahantepe itineraries. Allow at least 90 minutes at Karahantepe to take in the main structures and the new interpretive panels.