Excavations in the Harran district of Şanlıurfa have uncovered a stamp dating back to 4,000-5,000 BCE, said the excavation leader, Nurettin Yardımcı. The excavations have been ongoing since 1983 and that recent work in the area has focused on the Harran tumulus and Ulu Cami as well as the Neolithic settlement of Tellidris.
     "Our work has indicated that the first inhabitants of Harran lived in Tellidris, dating back to around 8,000 BCE. We found some stamps with different shapes and motifs as well as a bull figure dating back to 6,000 BCE in last year's excavations. The findings showed that the people of Harran and Tellidris lived together around 9,000-10,000 years ago and that the people in Tellidris abandoned it and moved to the Harran tumulus area in later years," he said. "The Tellidris excavations conducted this year, on the other hand, uncovered a stamp dating back to an earlier period, around 4,000 or 5,000 BCE, and we believe that the excavations in Tellidris will unearth further findings of the Neolithic era in the coming years," Yardımcı said.

Source: Turkish Daily News (16 October 2006)