The discovery
In the autumn 2012 season, excavators traced how people actually entered Enclosure C — one of the great round buildings, and the one most heavily rebuilt across its life. A stone stairway led down into it, staging the approach into a space ringed with concentric walls and T-shaped pillars.
Under the boars' watch
Enclosure C is dominated by boars — carved in relief and, in one case, a boar sculpture set as if guarding the way. The wild boar was among the most dangerous animals a Neolithic hunter faced, and here it lines the route in. To descend the stair was to enter beneath them.
Why it changes how we read the site
The staircase turns Enclosure C from a static ring of stones into a designed experience — a route, a threshold, an arrival. These buildings were meant to be moved through, not only looked at.