Neolithic Settlement Discovered Near Turkey’s Black Sea Coast

KASTAMONU, TURKEY—Hurriyet Daily News reports that a team of researchers led by Nurperi Ayengin of Düzce University are excavating a pre-pottery Neolithic settlement at Kahin Tepe, which is located on northern Turkey’s Black Sea coast. “We think that this is a sacred area where people came at certain times of the year to hunt, share their knowledge, worship, and make statues of animals,” Ayengin said. Many of the objects found at the site, which has been dated to between 9,000 and 14,000 years old, are similar to those found at the Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe, which is located in southeastern Anatolia. For more on religious activity at that site, go to "Skull Cult at Göbekli Tepe," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2017.