Taş Tepeler

Sayburç · Research lead

The stitched-mouth figure (reported)

A human sculpture reported from Sayburç, showing what is described as a deceased individual with a stitched mouth — a striking find whose exact context has not yet been formally published, and which is kept here as a research lead rather than a settled claim.

The Sayburç excavation. (Site view; not a photograph of this find.)
The Sayburç excavation. (Site view; not a photograph of this find.) Wikimedia Commons

01

Quick facts

What is reported
a human sculpture depicting a deceased individual with a stitched mouth
Confidence
reporting-grade / review — not yet set out in a formal excavation report
Findspot
not resolved — exact building, context and association unpublished
Form
whether sculpture in the round or relief, and its dimensions, not confirmed
Handling
kept separate from the northern relief and other imagery unless publication links the contexts

02

What has been reported

Among the finds mentioned for Sayburç is a human figure interpreted as a deceased person whose mouth has been stitched or sewn shut — an unusual and memorable image of death. It is a genuine reported find, but at present it is exactly that: reported. The description circulates ahead of a formal publication that would fix its findspot, its dimensions, its material, and whether it is a sculpture in the round or a relief.

Because the context is unresolved, this entry is deliberately kept short and cautious. The responsible position is to record the figure as a research lead and to keep it separate from Sayburç's better-documented imagery — the northern bench relief and the pillar carvings — rather than assume any connection between them.

03

What is still needed

Before this figure can be described with confidence, its exact findspot and associated context, its dimensions and material, and the basic question of sculpture versus relief all need to be settled in publication. Until then, the 'deceased individual with a stitched mouth' is best read as a strong lead that fuller reporting will confirm, refine, or reframe.

04

Sources

Sources & further reading2 references
  1. Özdoğan, E. (2025). Interviews on the Sayburç excavation and its reliefs. Transcribed interviews held in the Taş Tepeler research atlas. Spoken material, translated from Turkish; paraphrased rather than quoted. See Özdoğan 2022 for the published account.
  2. Özdoğan, E. (2024). Sayburç: a mid-9th millennium BC site in the foothills of the Eastern Taurus. Documenta Praehistorica 51: 44–58. Open-access preliminary report of the first excavation seasons; source of the lettered special buildings. doi:10.4312/dp.51.23

Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →

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Last reviewed 7 October 2026. Something wrong?