One of the sites that broke the monopoly
When Göbekli Tepe first became widely known, the T-shaped pillar looked like its signature — an extraordinary form belonging to one extraordinary place.
Sefertepe is one of the sites that ended that idea. Bahattin Çelik reported it in Neo-Lithics in 2006, and it belongs to a group of Şanlıurfa T-pillar sites identified through survey work: Sefertepe, Karahan Tepe, Hamzan Tepe, Kurt Tepe, Taşlı Tepe and Harbetsuvan Tepesi among them.
That group changed the question. The T-pillar was not one site's invention. It was a regional tradition, shared across a landscape of communities.
What the pillars are like
Sefertepe has reported T-shaped pillars along with quadrangular pillar forms in its architecture.
The T-shape itself is the key form: an upright shaft with a broad horizontal head, read by archaeologists as a stylised human body seen in profile — the head represented as a flat slab, with arms and hands carved in low relief on some examples at other sites.
The pillars at Sefertepe have not been published in the pillar-by-pillar detail available for Göbekli Tepe, so the size, count and decorative treatment of individual examples should be treated as not yet fully documented in the public record.
The architecture around them
Sefertepe includes a group of quadrangular buildings — rectangular rather than circular plans — which is notable in a region where the famous structures are round.
Field notes taken onsite in 2024 describe the architecture as blending traits associated with the Tigris region and the Euphrates region, which would place Sefertepe at something of a junction between two architectural traditions rather than squarely inside one.
The site is an active Taş Tepeler excavation, and its published record is expanding.
Not only pillars
Sefertepe's most striking material is not architectural. The site has produced paired human face reliefs, a dual-faced anthropomorphic bead, and a young wild boar incised on the back of a grinding stone.
And it has the skull room. As of the 2025 season, 43 skulls are documented across two chambers. Onsite notes from August 2024 record an earlier stage: 21 gathered in the chamber with the bones of an infant, and one standing alone facing east.
So the pillars place Sefertepe within the regional tradition — but what distinguishes it is a concentration of evidence about faces, heads and the dead.
What is still unclear
How many T-pillars the site contains, and their dimensions, contexts and decoration.
How the quadrangular buildings relate chronologically to the pillar-bearing architecture.
Whether the Tigris–Euphrates architectural blend holds up under fuller publication.
And the reconciliation of the different skull counts now in circulation, which will need a published excavation account.
Sefertepe is a site where the questions are currently more developed than the published answers.
Common questions
Does Sefertepe have T-shaped pillars?
Yes. It has reported T-shaped pillars along with quadrangular pillar forms, and was one of the Şanlıurfa survey sites that established the T-pillar as a regional tradition rather than a Göbekli Tepe peculiarity.
When was Sefertepe reported?
Bahattin Çelik published it in Neo-Lithics in 2006, as part of survey work identifying a group of T-pillar sites across Şanlıurfa province.
What does a T-shaped pillar represent?
It is generally read as a stylised human body seen in profile, with the broad horizontal top standing for a head — one that carries no face.
What else has been found at Sefertepe?
Paired human face reliefs, a dual-faced anthropomorphic bead, a young wild boar incised on a grinding stone, quadrangular buildings, and a chamber containing multiple human skulls.
Which other sites have T-pillars?
Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe most famously, plus Sayburç, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, Hamzan Tepe, Kurt Tepe and Taşlı Tepe among the surveyed Şanlıurfa group.
Sources & further reading4 references
- Çelik, B. (2006). Sefer Tepe: A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site in Southeastern Turkey. Neo-Lithics 1/06: 23–25.
- Çelik, B.. Differences and similarities between the settlements in Şanlıurfa region where 'T' shaped pillars are discovered. Comparative survey of the Şanlıurfa T-pillar sites. Consulted via open repository copy; full bibliographic details not verified.
- Onsite notes from archaeologists working at Sefertepe (2024). Field observations recorded at the site, end of August 2024. Unpublished field notes held by Taş Tepeler (tastepeler.net). First-hand site notes, not a peer-reviewed publication. Figures may be superseded by the excavation's own reporting.
- Clare, L. (2020). Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. A brief summary of research at a new World Heritage Site (2015–2019). e-Forschungsberichte des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 2020(2): 81–88.
Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →