Turkish archaeologists unearth 11,000-year-old composite sculpture of human figure on leopard at Karahan Tepe
The 70-centimeter stone sculpture, discovered at a site parallel to Göbekli Tepe, represents a style not previously identified at the site.
What happened
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism officials announced the discovery of a stone sculpture at Karahan Tepe in southeastern Turkey, dated to approximately 11,000 years ago. The 70-centimeter-tall 'composite sculpture' depicts a human figure riding a leopard and was found resting on a bench along the wall of a circular stone structure roughly three meters in diameter with a paved stone floor. Ministry officials described the artwork as representing a style not previously identified at the site and noted it was uncovered during ongoing excavations in 2024.
Context
Karahan Tepe, located 30 kilometers from the more famous Göbekli Tepe, is part of the larger Taş Tepeler archaeological project studying Neolithic sites in the region. Both sites are dated to more than 11,000 years before present—thousands of years before the generally accepted emergence of organized human societies. The discovery contributes to growing evidence of sophisticated monumental construction and complex artistic expression during the pre-civilization period, challenging conventional timelines about when such cultural complexity emerged. The ministry framed the find as evidence of deliberate architectural planning and social organization during humanity's transition from mobile hunter-gatherer existence to settled agricultural life, suggesting previously underestimated capabilities of Neolithic societies.