Sayburç is being developed as the third major Taş Tepeler open-air museum, featuring a narrative panel and underground area. Meanwhile, Yoğunburç has yielded 9,000-8,000 BC stone tools and beads, Ayanlar Höyük dwarfs nearby sites with winter solstice alignments, and Çemka-Höyük may predate Göbekli Tepe itself.
Sayburç becomes open-air museum as Taş Tepeler network expands
Key facts
- Sayburç being converted into an open-air museum; houses demolished to create views and museum areas, becoming the third major Taş Tepeler site developed for tourism after Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe
- Sayburç features a narrative scene panel and an underground area
- Yoğunburç (excavated by Chinese-Turkish team) has produced rectangular structures, beads, and a boar tooth; cup marks and stone tools dateable to 9,000-8,000 BC
- Ayanlar Hoyük has an occupational mound that dwarfs both Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, with a modern village sitting on top of it
- Winter solstice sunset alignment observed between two hills at Ayanlar; summer solstice sunrise may also align
- Çemka-Höyük potentially older than Gobekli Tepe by several hundred years, possibly bridging the late Paleolithic and Taş Tepeler era
- Sites in the Tigris River basin may be slightly older than Haram Plain sites
- A new Taş Tepeler site was revealed in the northern Şanlıurfa province when dam reservoir waters receded
- Andrew Collins predicts roughly a dozen similar sites may open up over the next 20 years
Site mentioned
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