Karahan Tepe is around 35 kilometres east-southeast of Göbekli Tepe. Now considered part of a constellation of contemporaneous settlements that extends over 100 kilometres, and at least 11 other unexcavated sites including Karahan Tepe, Göbekli Tepe is famous for the world's oldest known temple structures, dating to 9600 BCE. Recent work has also revealed domestic structures at Göbekli Tepe.
     Described as one of the world's oldest villages, Karahan Tepe includes a vast ritualistic complex. The first of a dozen prehistoric sites to be excavated by Turkish authorities in the southeast, near the Syrian border, Karahan Tepe was carved into the slope of a hill on a high limestone plateau between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, around 400 kilometres east of the nearest Mediterranean port. Sacred and secular spaces were built simultaneously, and the site was occupied year-round for about 1,500 years. No remnants of farmed vegetation have been found.
     One of the circular chambers at Karahan Tepe contains 11 giant phalluses carved from the bedrock, watched over by a carving depicting a bearded head with a serpent's body emerging from the wall. The space has a separate entrance and exit, and a channel for water.
     Stone reliefs of wildlife range from insects to mammals and include attacking beasts gripping men's heads. There are more depictions of humans than at Göbekli Tepe, which is around 200 years older. As at Göbekli Tepe, scores of T-shaped anthropomorphic stelae have been unearthed. Since 2019, around 1 percent of the 60,000 square metre site has been excavated.
     Turkey could open Karahan Tepe to tourists next year. The government is investing around $14m to build a research centre, expand excavations to as many as 30 sites in the area, and attract visitors to Göbekli Tepe and other Neolithic sites.

Edited from The Art Newspaper (17 November 2021)