The First Skeletons Found at Göbekli Tepe

Summary

Archaeologists have reported the first excavated burials at Göbekli Tepe, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in southeastern Türkiye dating to roughly 9600–8000 BC. The discoveries provide evidence about burial practices at the site and may help explain why earlier excavations uncovered many scattered human-bone fragments.

Göbekli Tepe’s changing interpretation

• Göbekli Tepe is best known for monumental structures containing decorated T-shaped pillars.
• Smaller rectangular buildings around those structures were once thought to be simpler versions of the monumental buildings. More recent excavations, including at nearby sites, have led archaeologists to interpret them as residential buildings.
• The site is therefore increasingly understood as a settlement, not simply a complex of temples.
• Before these discoveries, excavators had found many human bones—including some with cut marks or holes—but no complete burials. These modifications had been used to support the possibility of a “skull cult,” in which skulls held particular significance.

The two burials

A burial containing at least three people: Found in 2017 during excavation for a roof-support structure, this grave held fragmented remains of at least:

• A woman aged 35 or older
• A man in his 20s or 30s
• A teenage girl

Researchers could not rule out a fourth individual because some bones were poorly preserved. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) is estimated by comparing repeated types of bones and evidence of different ages.

The bones were arranged in distinct locations within the pit. Researchers suggest that the people may first have been buried as whole bodies, with the grave reopened as more people were added. Bodies or bones may then have been shifted within the grave—for example, with skulls and long bones grouped separately.

A single woman’s burial: This grave contained a largely undisturbed skeleton on the mound’s western slope, overlooking a monumental structure. Its position suggests the woman was placed in the grave as a whole body and remained there.

Her bones were damaged by several post-burial processes: pressure from overlying sediment, gnawing by rodents, and limestone deposits that contributed to cracking and fragmentation.

What the finds may mean

• The burials show that people were interred in different parts of the settlement: both in rectangular buildings thought to be residential and near monumental structures.
• The multiple-person burial resembles burials at settlements such as Çatalhöyük, where people and objects—including skulls—were buried beneath building floors.
• The finds may also help explain human remains scattered through the monumental structures. The narrator describes a prevailing interpretation in which those structures were not deliberately filled in. Instead, natural processes—such as slope failures, sediment deposition, and roof collapse—gradually filled them.
• If people were buried beneath house floors, the eventual collapse or disturbance of those buildings could have carried bones into lower structures. Human remains could thus have become mixed with animal bones and stone tools in the fill.
• The relatively good preservation and special handling of some skulls may also account for the number of skull fragments found at the site. The new evidence invites archaeologists to reconsider how strongly those fragments support the idea of a skull cult.

Excavation note

The narrator clarifies that trenches for roof supports were excavated archaeologically down to bedrock; supports were not simply drilled through archaeological deposits. When significant features were found, trenches could be moved or widened to locate suitable bedrock.

Speakers and sources featured

• Hugh Thomas — the video’s narrator and presenter.
• The archaeological study discussed in the video — reports the two burials; individual researchers are not named in the subtitles.
• Comparative archaeological evidence mentioned — Göbekli Tepe, Sayburç, Karahan Tepe, Çatalhöyük, Mount Nemrut, and a Bronze Age tomb in Saudi Arabia. No other speakers are heard in the subtitles.