Human History and Göbeklitepe

Şanlıurfa is known as the lands of the dawn of civilization and is located in regions so called as “Fertile Crescent” in archeology literature. From primitive religions to monotheistic religions, all religions emerged in this region. The very first agricultural practices were performed in this region and writing was invented also in this region. The male sculpture, so called as “Urfa Man”, came across during the excavations made within the scope of “Balıklıgöl Landscape Project” in 1992 and sent to Urfa Museum, was dated back to circa 10.000 BC and recorded as the oldest naturalistic life-sized sculpture of a human in archeology literature. This sculpture proved that Balıklıgöl and surroundings in Urfa city center were settled toward the end of Paleolithic age about 12.000 years ago (10.000 BC). At the end of this age, humans left the hunter and nomadic lifestyle and passed into permanent settlements, they established the very first villages and initiated agricultural practices for the first time and became producer societies. This age is also known as the age in which primitive religions emerged for the first time. Therefore, Şanlıurfa has a great place in world culture in terms of history of religions, history of agriculture and faith tourism. In archaeological excavations conducted in Göbeklitepe close to city center under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Klaus Schmidt, the oldest temple of the world belonging to ends of Paleolithic Age dated back to 12.000 years ago (10.000 BC) was explored. Such an exploration proved that Şanlıurfa was the oldest center of the believers in the world. Before Göbekli Tepe, archaeological excavations were conducted in Nevali Çori of Hilvan Town and a square-planned temple of Neolithic Age dated back to 8.500-8.000 BC was explored. Therefore, Nevali Çori led up the Göbeklitepe excavations. In several archeological excavations conducted in Şanlıurfa region, schematic idols to which Chalcolithic and Old Bronze Age Societies worshipped were explored. Several violin-type idols depicting homiform gods explored in Titriş Höyük Necropolis of Bozova Town and exhibited in Şanlıurfa Museum.

Titriş Höyük: The Nature and Context of Third Millennium B.C.E. Urbanism in the Upper Euphrates Basin

This article discusses findings from excavations at Titriş Höyük. At the time of its foundation as an urban center in the Middle Early Bronze Age, Titriş Höyük possessed the combined advantages of locally available timber, multiple perennial water sources and associated year-round cultivable floodplains suited to garden crops, and broad, rain-fed arable tracts suited to grain cultivation. Additionally, the site was surrounded by gentle limestone hills well suited to viticulture and livestock grazing. However, this benign framework provided a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of the site. The sufficient condition was the city's location along the road to the Samsat ford, which made it a natural arbiter of a portion of long-distance east–west trade across the northern fringes of “Greater Mesopotamia” in the third millennium—a fact attested by the number and variety of imports found in excavated mortuary and domestic contexts across the city.