Taş Tepeler

Yeni Mahalle · Structure

The T-pillar context at Yeni Mahalle

A confirmed Taş Tepeler network site by the Balıklıgöl lakeshore at Şanlıurfa, where T-pillars are reported but the excavated detail remains almost entirely unpublished.

Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, which holds finds from the city's Neolithic sites. (Museum view; not a photograph of this find.)
Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, which holds finds from the city's Neolithic sites. (Museum view; not a photograph of this find.) Wikimedia Commons

01

Quick facts

Site
Yeni Mahalle, a confirmed Taş Tepeler network site within the city of Şanlıurfa
Setting
the Balıklıgöl lakeshore plateau — an urban-context Neolithic findspot
Pillars
T-shaped pillars reported in regional summaries; no public plan, count or provenience
Links
material-comparison links noted to Söğüt Tarlası
Status
sparse public data; no detailed excavation report available

02

A confirmed site with a thin public record

Yeni Mahalle is a confirmed site in the Taş Tepeler network, set on the Balıklıgöl lakeshore plateau inside modern Şanlıurfa. It carries genuine regional interest — the official project pages report Göbekli Tepe-like T-pillars here, and note material-comparison links to Söğüt Tarlası — but it is one of the network's least-published members. There is no public plan, pillar count, enclosure layout, floor or deposit detail available in the current record, so the site is best treated as confirmed but honestly thin.

The lakeshore setting is worth flagging carefully. The Balıklıgöl plateau is a striking location, but on present evidence it is a question about water and long-term urban memory, not a demonstrated ritual-water claim — a distinction the project's own summaries are careful to keep.

03

The Urfa Man question

The famous Balıklıgöl / Urfa Man statue came from the same broad area, and the official page highlights that association as part of what makes the district archaeologically important. But the exact relationship between that findspot and the T-pillar context here is not established in the public record. It is a reason to watch the site, not a claim that the two belong together — and, like almost everything about Yeni Mahalle, it awaits a proper excavation report.

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Sources

Sources & further reading2 references
  1. Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project — Taş Tepeler (2026). Official project site (Istanbul University / Şanlıurfa Museum). tastepeler.org link
  2. Di Nocera, G. M. (2024). Söğüt Tarlası and Biris Mezarlığı (Taş Tepeler project settlement profile). Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project – Taş Tepeler. tastepeler.org/en/settlements/sogut-tarlasi-biris-mezarligi

Full bibliography: the Taş Tepeler reference library →

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Last reviewed 7 October 2026. Something wrong?