A New Wave of Neolithic Surprises at Taş Tepeler: Mysterious ‘Death Mask’ Sculpture Unveiled in Southeastern Türkiye

Human-like faces carved into stone, a rare double-sided bead, and an unsettling sculpture evoking the stillness of death—Türkiye’s vast Taş Tepeler region has revealed some of its most enigmatic Neolithic discoveries to date. The announcements came this week in Şanlıurfa, where the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shared 30 previously unknown finds that reshape current understandings of ritual life across the world’s earliest monumental landscapes.

A Sculpture That Freezes a Final Expression

During renewed excavations at Sayburç, archaeologists uncovered a striking figurative piece described by researchers as capturing “a mouth sewn shut.”
Although only a few centimeters tall, its unnervingly calm expression has led specialists to consider whether the piece represents a deceased individual, a symbolic ancestor, or a ritualized portrayal of silence in funerary contexts.
According to the Ministry, this so-called “death mask” figure stands out as one of the most distinctive ritual objects recovered in the entire Taş Tepeler corpus.

Göbeklitepe: A Human Figure Hidden in the Heart of a Wall

At Göbeklitepe, excavators exposed a delicately crafted human figurine intentionally sealed within the inner face of Structure D’s wall.
The object appears to have been placed as a dedicatory offering—possibly a safeguard for the building or a symbolic participant in the rituals performed there. Specialists highlight its refinement as an exceptional example of early sculptural aesthetics dating back more than 11,000 years.

Sefertepe: Two Stone Faces That Break the Known Artistic Pattern

Perhaps the most visually arresting new discoveries surfaced at Sefertepe, where researchers identified two sculpted faces carved into carefully prepared stone blocks.
One is rendered in high relief, the other in a shallower technique, yet both diverge sharply from the facial styles previously documented at Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe, and Sayburç.
The Minister emphasized that these differing proportions and carving strategies suggest an artistic language unique to Sefertepe, hinting at localized identities within the broader Taş Tepeler cultural network.

Another remarkable piece from the same site—a double-faced black serpentine bead—reveals a level of symbolic complexity rarely seen in the region’s portable objects. With one face looking forward and the other perhaps gazing beyond, researchers believe it may have been worn as a talisman tied to duality, transformation, or ancestral protection.

A Monumental Project, A Growing Mystery

Entering its fifth year, the Taş Tepeler initiative spans more than a dozen Neolithic mound and hilltop sites across Şanlıurfa, forming one of the most ambitious archaeological projects in the Republic’s history.
Each new season adds fresh nuance to questions surrounding early ritual architecture, artistic expression, and the symbolic worlds of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic—questions that continue to defy simple explanations.