Archaeologists have identified the first two burials at Gobeklitepe in southeastern Turkey, offering a possible explanation for the mystery of hundreds of scattered human bones found across the prehistoric settlement. The findings come from a study published Sept. 22 in PLOS ONE by researchers Julia Gresky and Lee Clare. The burials date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, about 8700 to 8000 B.C.
Since excavations began in 1995, archaeologists have documented 928 human bone fragments outside the two newly studied burials. The remains came from males and females of different ages, but their scattered locations made their origins difficult to determine.
First burials reveal how the dead were treated
The first burial, discovered in 2017, lay beneath the plaster floor of a rectangular building. The kidney-shaped grave contained at least three people: a woman aged 35 or older, a man between 20 and 30, and a girl about 11 to 14. Their remains had been rearranged. Skulls were grouped in one corner, while other bones lay elsewhere in the grave. Researchers found no cut marks, and small bones from the hands and feet remained present.
The evidence is consistent with successive burials, researchers said. Complete bodies may have been placed in the grave at different times, with earlier remains moved aside to create space.
A second burial, first encountered in 2012 and fully excavated in 2022, contained a young adult, probably a woman aged 20 to 30. She lay on her left side with bent legs and faced east near Monumental Building A. Although the skeleton remained largely in place, many bones were severely fragmented. Soil pressure, mineral deposits, and animal activity had damaged the remains.
Erosion may explain hundreds of scattered bones
That damage provides an important clue to Göbeklitepe’s scattered bones. Gresky and Clare propose that some may have originated in graves beneath buildings higher on the settlement mound. Erosion and slope movement could have carried soil, building debris, and fragmented human remains downhill into the monumental structures.
The findings also add to evidence that Göbeklitepe was more than a place for monumental or ritual activity. Rectangular buildings recently uncovered at the site may have served as homes, adding to signs that everyday life took place alongside monumental activity. Burial beneath building floors was also common among Neolithic communities in Anatolia and the Levant.
Researchers caution that erosion cannot explain every human remains. Skull fragments from five people at Göbeklitepe bear deliberate cuts, pointing to other forms of treatment after death. Similar evidence of complex mortuary practices has emerged in the wider Taş Tepeler region, where archaeologists discovered a concentration of Neolithic human skulls at Sefertepe.
The two burials therefore offer a new explanation for part of Göbeklitepe’s long-standing mystery while showing that its Neolithic inhabitants may have followed several different practices for their dead.
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