The deposit outside the wall
In the 2025 excavation season, reporting from Çakmaktepe described a remarkable find associated with Special Building 15.
More than thirty burnt gazelle skulls, together with five wild sheep heads, were found outside the building — in front of its exterior wall, spread across an area of roughly 10 by 3 metres. The gazelle horns were reported intact.
The placement appears deliberate. This is not a refuse scatter: it is a defined strip of ground along the outside of a specific wall, containing selected body parts of selected animals, burned.
Why 'outside' matters
Most of the dramatic deposits at Taş Tepeler sites come from building interiors — fills, floors, benches, wall bases. This one is on the approach.
That changes the range of plausible readings. A deposit inside a room is seen by whoever is admitted to the room. A deposit along an exterior wall is encountered by anyone who comes near the building, and it marks the boundary between outside and inside.
So the candidate interpretations cluster around threshold and approach: an offering made at the entrance, a display asserting what the building is, a closure act performed when the building went out of use, or a repeated practice that accumulated over time. The evidence does not yet separate them.
It was not the first time
Earlier seasons at Çakmaktepe reported different animal-head deposits inside a special building, along the wall bases — including cattle, sheep and equid skulls.
So head deposition at this site is not a single event. It appears in more than one building and in more than one position, interior and exterior, with more than one set of species.
That repetition is the strongest part of the case. One deposit could be circumstance; a recurring practice across buildings and seasons is a custom.
Heads again
It is difficult to look at this deposit without noticing that these communities did something comparable with human heads.
At Göbekli Tepe, human skull fragments show cut marks and a drilled perforation implying suspension. At Sefertepe, a chamber held skulls gathered deliberately together. At Çakmaktepe, animal heads are selected, burned and placed along a wall.
The materials differ and the contexts differ, and nobody has demonstrated that these practices are versions of one another. But the same underlying logic keeps surfacing: the head is the part that is kept, treated and positioned.
What is not yet established
The full placement plan — exactly how the skulls were arranged within that 10 by 3 metre area, and whether there is internal structure to the arrangement.
The taphonomy: whether the burning happened in place or elsewhere, and whether the deposit accumulated at once or over repeated occasions.
The complete faunal table, with counts and species identifications confirmed.
And the relationship of the deposit to the building's own sequence — whether it belongs to the building's use, its construction, or its abandonment.
Until the excavation publishes those details, this is a strong, concrete and genuinely unusual piece of evidence whose final meaning remains open.
Common questions
What was found at Special Building 15?
More than thirty burnt gazelle skulls and five wild sheep heads, found outside the building in front of its exterior wall across an area of about 10 by 3 metres, reported in the 2025 season.
Were the skulls placed deliberately?
The placement is reported as deliberate. The deposit is confined to a defined strip along a specific wall and consists of selected body parts of selected species, burned — not a general refuse scatter.
Why does it matter that the deposit is outside?
It sits on the approach to the building rather than inside it, which points interpretation toward threshold, entrance, display or closure practices rather than activity within the room.
Is this the only animal-head deposit at Çakmaktepe?
No. Earlier seasons reported animal-head deposits inside a special building along the wall bases, including cattle, sheep and equid skulls. The repetition is what makes it look like a custom.
What does the deposit mean?
Not established. Offering, display, closure, or accumulated repeated practice are all plausible. The placement plan, taphonomy and full faunal analysis have not yet been published.
Sources & further reading3 references
- Şahin, F. et al. (2023). Çakmaktepe Kazısı 2022 Yılı Kazı Çalışmaları. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı (Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism excavation reports).
- 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.
- The Tepe Telegrams (official research blog of the Göbekli Tepe Project, DAI). The Tepe Telegrams. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. link Accessible, authoritative running commentary from the excavation team.
Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →