Amazing carvings of human heads and phallus-shaped pillars were recently discovered at an 11,000-year-old archaeological site in Turkey, a sister “village” to the famous Gobekli Tepe site. , is considered to be the site of the oldest temple in the world.
Archaeologists believe the findings suggest the 11,000-year-old site from prehistoric times once hosted ceremonial parades in which people would move past a building containing phallic pillars and carved human heads, according to a new report from Live Science.
The site, called Karahantepe, was located in southern Turkey, east of present-day Şanlıurfa. For a time during the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC), the city was named Callirrhoe or “Antiochia on Callirhoe” (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Καλλιρρόης).
Historic area once known as Callirhoe, Justinopolis, Edessa
During the Byzantine period, it was named Justinopolis. In historical times, it is most commonly known by the name given to it by the Seleucids, Eδεσσα, and Édessa.
Researchers discovered a total of 11 pillars near a carving of an adult head. Necmi Karul, a professor of prehistoric archeology at Istanbul University, said that “all the pillars were erected and shaped like a penis,” in a recent paper published in the journal Türk Arkeoloji ve Etnografya Dergisi.
Karul did not explain in the academic paper why the phallic heads and pillars were built or what role they might have played in prehistoric rituals.
According to Karul, the find included a complex of four buildings through which a procession may have taken place. She said in the article that “a ceremonial process, entering the building from one end and exiting the other, must be paraded in front of (presence) of human heads” may have been part of ancient ritual.
She went on to say that additional excavations and historical analysis must be done before researchers can say definitively that this type of procession took place.
In perhaps the most unusual aspect of the find, the archaeologists determined that the buildings were not abandoned over time, as usual; instead, the complex was intentionally filled with earth, possibly as part of a “ceremony ceremony,” Live Science reported.
Another fascinating part of the story is that Karahantepe’s new site is located near Gobekli Tepe – the famous archaeological site also has large buildings and carvings of people and heads – both in date of its founding and location. Archaeologists are currently working hard to determine the historical relationship between the two sites.
Karahantepe was first discovered in 1997, but there were no excavations there until 2019. However, in that time period, however, researchers have completed several archaeological investigations of the site. new point. Further studies will be conducted at the ceremonial complex, according to archaeologists.