German Archaeological Institute

New Capabilities

As of September 2026: Runs the ongoing Göbeklitepe excavation and produced the PLOS One study

For 30 years, every dig season at Göbeklitepe turned up hundreds of fragmented human bones in the fill of its monumental stone buildings, and archaeologists read them as the remains of a Neolithic skull cult. The first two intact burials ever found at the site now suggest a blunter explanation: erosion and landslides carried the bones downhill from ordinary graves.

Updated Sep 29