Faces worked into the stone
Sefertepe is noted for human faces worked into its stonework — part of the same tradition of carved human imagery that runs across Taş Tepeler, from Göbekli Tepe's pillar-figures to Karahan Tepe's remarkable carved heads. The faces tie Sefertepe into the region's central artistic preoccupation: representing, and confronting, the human form.
As with much at this less-excavated site, the detail is still emerging, but the presence of carved faces places Sefertepe clearly within the shared symbolic world of the landscape.
The face made portable
Two things stand out about the Sefertepe faces, both reported from recent seasons. First, style: one face is carved in high relief and another in low relief, in proportions that set them apart from the region's other carved heads — a local signature. Second, and more striking, is a small black serpentinite bead carved with a human face on each side.
That bead is the quiet headline: the human face, which elsewhere in this world is monumental and fixed to walls and pillars, here becomes tiny, double-sided and portable — something to be carried or worn. It's a reminder that the Taş Tepeler obsession with the face ran from the giant to the handheld.
Common questions
What are the Sefertepe human faces?
Human faces carved into the site's stonework, part of the wider Taş Tepeler tradition of human imagery seen at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe. Details come from ongoing excavation.
Sources & further reading2 references
- 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.
- Karul, N. (2021). Buried Buildings at Pre-Pottery Neolithic Karahantepe. Türk Arkeoloji ve Etnografya Dergisi 82: 19–29.
Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →