The essentials
Taş Tepeler — Turkish for 'Stone Hills'; the name for the cluster of related Neolithic sites across the Şanlıurfa region and for the research program studying them. Tepe / höyük / tell — words for an artificial mound built up by long human occupation ('tepe' is Turkish for hill). Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) — the early Neolithic before pottery was made, split into PPNA (earlier) and PPNB (later). Epipalaeolithic — the hunter-gatherer period just before the Neolithic.
Architecture words
T-pillar — the signature standing stone of the region, a shaft with a broad horizontal top; the central ones are stylized human figures. Special (or communal) building — a structure that isn't an ordinary house, used for gathering or ritual; much of Karahan Tepe is made of these. Enclosure — the term often used for Göbekli Tepe's great round buildings. Terrazzo — a hard, polished lime-plaster floor. Porthole stone — a large stone pierced by a round opening, sometimes used as a doorway between spaces. In situ — found in its original place, not moved to a museum.
How things are described and dated
Relief — carving raised from a flat surface; low relief is shallow, high relief stands boldly out (like the predator on Pillar 27). Stratigraphy / layer — the stacked deposits that record a site's sequence; Göbekli's Layer III is older than Layer II. Calibrated BCE — radiocarbon dates converted to real calendar years before the Common Era. Backfill — deliberate filling-in of a building with soil and rubble, which is how much of Göbekli Tepe was preserved.
Keep this page open in another tab while you read the site — every term above appears across our pages and in the excavation literature.
Common questions
What is a T-pillar?
A T-shaped standing stone — the signature monument of Taş Tepeler. The large central ones are carved as stylized human figures with arms, hands, and belts.
What is a 'special building'?
A structure that isn't an ordinary house — used for gathering or ritual. Much of Karahan Tepe consists of such buildings, often deliberately buried.
What does 'Pre-Pottery Neolithic' mean?
The early Neolithic period before pottery was invented, divided into PPNA (earlier) and PPNB (later). It's when the Taş Tepeler monuments were built.
Sources & further reading
- Schmidt, K. (2012). Göbekli Tepe: A Stone Age Sanctuary in South-Eastern Anatolia. Berlin: ex oriente. The foundational monograph by the site's first excavator.
- Clare, L. (2020). Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. A brief summary of research at a new World Heritage Site (2015–2019). e-Forschungsberichte des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 2020(2): 81–88.
Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →