Turkey’s temple mounds illuminate the birth of civilisation
The finds at Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe have upended conventional wisdom
Even as a boy, Ismail Can, a Turkish shepherd, knew that the large mound outside his village, known as Karahan Tepe, contained wonders. Flint fragments, once used as tools, littered the mountainous area (about an hour’s drive from Sanliurfa, a city in southern Turkey). Large slabs of limestone, clearly hewed and shaped by human hands, emerged from the earth.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The rest is history”
Culture May 28th 2022
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